The Audubon Wheelers Volleyball team left it all out on the floor in Perry on Tuesday night and it paid off with a huge comeback win over Grand View Christian 3 sets to 2.  The Wheelers used a strong team effort to rally from a two sets to none hole to start the night and earn their way to the State Tournament.

Grand View Christian started the night strong with a ten point rally to end the first set with a 25-17 win.  The Thunder then went on to win the second set 25-22 and take what seemed like an overwhelmingly lead in the match.  But the Wheelers stayed focused and took set three 25-21 and then carried that momentum into set four. The Wheelers started off on a 9-3 run to begin the fourth set and had a late 5 point run to set them up for a 25-22 set win. The match then turned to the fifth and deciding set to 15 points. The two teams traded early small runs and it was back and forth with a tie set until the Wheeler ripped off a four point rally to take a 12-8 advantage. They wouldn’t let the Thunder get closer than 3 points the rest of the way and sealed the win with a Kaitlin Schultes pop across to the corner that Grand View Christian saw glance off the back row and out of play.  After the match Schultes, a Senior, talked about the jubilation after that last point.

Schultes said it was just a matter of the Wheelers never giving up when things weren’t going their way early.

Fellow Senior Sidney Obermeier said the team’s confidence grew once they strung some points together as the match moved on.

The Wheelers fell in this same position against the Thunder last year and Obermeier was happy to experience the other end of the outcome this time.

Wheeler Head Coach Molly Lange credited Grand View Christian for serving aggressively early in the match and taking her team out of their system. She also thought the Wheelers weren’t passing well early in the match and said once they settled down and started to get the ball closer to the net their luck changed.

Lange talked about the feeling of making to state in a big year for her personally.

Audubon improved to 27-6 on the season and will now head to the State Tournament in Cedar Rapids with a first round match against 28-7 Springville on Wednesday, November 9th at 8:00pm.