Kennedy Volleyball

No. 2 Cougars fall to No. 1 City High

Top-ranked Iowa City High won the last two games and beat No. 2 Kennedy, three games to one, Tuesday in Mississippi Valley Conference volleyball.

City High won the first game, 25-11, but Kennedy rallied for a 25-16 win in game two.

City High came back to win the next two games, 25-10 and 25-17.

Kennedy fell to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in MVC.

Kennedy spikers have rough start

ELDRIDGE - The Cedar Rapids Kennedy volleyball team was ranked No. 2 in the Class 5A preseason poll this year, but the high ranking did not help the Cougars Thursday night.

Kennedy began the season at the North Scott tournament and came home with  1-2 record.

The Cougars lost to Class 5A No. 8 Pleasant Valley in two games, defeated Bettendorf in two games and lost to Class 4A No. 9 North Scott in three games.

Kennedy spikers start season at No. 2

Kennedy has been to the semifinals of the Class 4A state volleyball tournament each of the last three seasons.

The Cougars will be aiming a little higher this season.

Kennedy begins the season ranked No. 2 in Class 5A. Iowa City High is ranked No. 1 and Iowa City West, the Cougars' semifinal nemesis the last three seasons, is ranked ninth.

Two other Metro teams also are in the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union preseason rankings. Xavier is ranked No. 12 and Marion is 14th in Class 4A.

Sioux City Heelan is ranked No. 1 in Class 4A. The other top-ranked teams are MOC-Floyd Valley in 3A, Dike-New Hartford in 2A and Grundy Center in 1A.

IGHSAU VOLLEYBALL RANKINGS
Preseason

CLASS 5A

1. Iowa City High, 2. CR Kennedy, 3. Ankeny, 4. Cedar Falls, 5. Urbandale, 6. Dubuque Hempstead, 7. Clinton, 8. Pleasant Valley, 9. Iowa City West, 10. West Des Moines Dowling

CLASS 4A

1. Sioux City Heelan, 2. Harlan, 3. Solon, 4. Waverly-Shell Rock, 5. Charles City, 6. Maquoketa, 7. Dubuque Wahlert, 8. West Delaware, 9. North Scott, 10. DeWitt Central, 11. Fairfield, 12. CR Xavier, 13. Lewis Central, 14. Marion, 15. Clear Creek Amana

CLASS 3A

1. MOC-Floyd Valley, 2. Mediapolis, 3. West Liberty, 4. Sioux Center, 5. Union, 6. Nevada, 7. Davenport Assumption, 8. Mount Vernon, 9. Unity Christian, 10. East Sac County, 11. Cascade, 12. South Central Calhoun. 13. Estherville Lincoln Central, 14. Red Oak, 15. Bondurant-Farrar

CLASS 2A

1. Dike-New Hartford, 2. Western Christian, 3. Carroll Kuemper, 4. Sumner-Fredericksburg, 5. Council Bluffs St. Albert, 6. West Branch, 7. Ridge View, 8. Woodward-Granger, 9. Treynor, 10. Hinton, 11. Durant, 12. IKM-Manning, 13. Iowa City Regin, 14. Lake Mills, 15. Edgewood-Colesburg

CLASS 1A

1. Grundy Center, 2. LeMars Gehlen, 3. Janesville, 4. Fort Madison Holy Trinity, 5. Tripoli, 6. Bellevue Marquette, 7. Stanton, 8. East Union, 9. Bedford, 10. Lisbon, 11. New London, 12. Twin Cedars, 13. Central Lyon, 14. Preston, 15. Winfield-Mount Union

Calef picked for Iowa all-star volleyball team

Jordan Calef of Cedar Rapids Kennedy has been selected to play for the 2012 Iowa Women's Junior National Team for the USA Volleyball High Performance Championships that will be held at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines from July 24-28.

Calef, 6-foot-1, collected 237 kills and a team-high 61 aces for Kennedy last season as a junior.

The Junior National Team will gather Thursday for four days of training, followed by five days of games. Calef's teammates include Shelly Stumpff of Iowa City West, Elizabeth Hubing of Iowa City High and Kelsey Cave of Solon.