Big round of applause to Davenport Central for knocking us all back and taking the MAC title!

Truly, I thought that we would be hanging the banner at Pleasant Valley this year. We had a junior class who, before this season, was 54-0! Some amazing seniors and a great coaching staff. Over-confident? Maybe.

But what we lacked was finding the will to win as a team.

So many times this season we have been in tight matches only to find ourselves with a loss. It's been frustrating and disappointing, but never discouraging.

We've faced awesome teams in tight sets. Cedar Rapids Kennedy (ranked 3rd in Class 4A), Dubuque Hempstead (4), CR Washington (8), Davenport Central (11), Bettendorf (14) and Pella (4th in 3A), but always just falling short of capturing the win.

Then it happened. We found the warrior in ourselves, as a team, in Muscatine.

Muscatine had the match. They had set 4. We were down 18-24.

We began playing aggressively safe and smart.

No random sets or swings. Steady ball control. Steady and aggressive defense, which turned into denying Muscatine kill after kill. Steady and difficult placement serves. Capturing one point at a time.

Aubrey Podschweit served eight straight service points and we won the set 26-24. That's when we found ourselves. We found out how to win as a team.

Volleyball is 90 percent mental. We have to go into these next matches focusing on the battle, not expecting to win, but fighting for the victory. Our previous expectations of winning have only led us to disappointment.

We must earn it, and the respect of Iowa Girls High School Association.

The road to state will be steep. If we win on Thursday, our next battle will be Iowa City West on Tuesday, Nov. 3rd at Tipton.

This is the team that I predicted early in the season would win state.

They are Goliath, and we are the Spartans, preparing for the battles to state.