MONTICELLO – Kennedy senior stars Lexi Rogers and Jordan Calef played out their hearts Tuesday night, trying to spike their team to a regional final upset of third ranked Dubuque Hempstead.

And gutsy fellow senior Bre Boote literally knocked herself out. Her Cougar career ended when she hit her head on the scorer’s table diving for a ball in the third game of a hard-fought match.

In the end, though, the big hitting Mustangs (29-6) simply overpowered ninth ranked Kennedy (24-13) in four games to advance to next week’s next state tournament at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

After dropping the first game 25-22, Hempstead reset itself and took the next three by scores of 25-21, 25-16 and 27-25.

“They’re an offense-minded team,” said long-limbed middle hitter Calef, who was all over the floor all night.

“When we’d get down to them we couldn’t bring ourselves back up and gain momentum. They’re a very good team.”

The equally lanky Rogers, who also left everything on the floor in her final match as a Cougar, said her team was unable to put away the Mustangs when it counted.

“Our play was up and down,” she said. “But we gave up too many points on long rallies.”

The Mustangs came out on fire to start the contest, blasting one kill after another to take an 11-7 lead.

Kennedy stemmed the tide, however, and went ahead for the first time at 14-13 on a spike by Rogers. Calef soon followed suit to stretch the margin to two, and her dink shot put the Cougars up 24-21.

They won out with Calef serving.

The second game was a see-saw affair that was knotted at 19 on a Rogers slam.

The Mustangs scored four straight points, though, and closed it out on a rocket by 6-foot-3 slugger Haley Van Cleave.

Hempstead took the first substantial lead for either team by going up 17-8 in game three. The Mustangs stretched it to 24-13 when Kennedy setter-supreme Boote crashed into the scorer’s table. After being tended to on the sidelines, she was taken to the locker room and was done for the night.

A kill by Mustang outside hitter Audrey Reeg finished off the only lopsided game of the match.

With Boote out of commission, Rogers and Calef practically willed their team to victory in the fourth game.  They each recorded two kills to put the Cougars up 9-7.

When played was then halted for several minutes for a consultation among officials, Calef even turned into cheerleader to get Kennedy fans on their feet.

The match went back and forth from there, with Kennedy’s two leading seniors continuing to spike or drop bloop shots over the net, depending on what was needed.

Hempstead was at match point at 25-24, but Calef came through with a kill to tie it.

Yet another monster blast by Reeg gave Hempstead the lead again, and the match ended when the Cougars failed to return the next serve.

The loss keeps Kennedy from returning to the state tourney for the fifth straight year.