The Riverside Bulldogs punched their ticket to the state tournament on Wednesday night with a dominant 3–0 sweep over the Red Oak Tigers in the Class 2A Region 4 Championship at Glenwood High School. The victory improves Riverside’s flawless record to 39–0. The Bulldogs controlled the match with 41 kills and junior setter Ashley Kelley directed the offense with 37 assists, while senior Lilli Reed led the attack at the net. Defensively, junior Arabella Singleton tallied 4 blocks, senior Sophia Fenner anchored the back row with 17 digs, and senior Sydney Somers led the team in aces.
In the 1st set the Bulldogs got to begin with the serve and took an impressive 10-0 lead to start off the set. The tigers slowly trailed the Bulldogs even making a small run till the score was 17-12. After that it was mainly all Riverside and they took the first set 25-17. In the 2nd set Riverside took the first couple points but Red Oak responded quickly and tied the set back up. The score went back and forth with who had the lead till the Tigers got around 12 points and Riverside starting to pull away. The Bulldogs won that set 25-12. In the third, it was another dog fight till Riverside starting pulling away when the set was tied 7-7. Riverside ended up having 10 unanswered points. Red Oak made a small comeback by scoring 10 more points but Lilli Reed was able to secure the win and send the Bulldogs to state to make the third set 25-17. Head Coach Brooke Flathers believed everyone played a part
The Bulldogs always push themselves to be better at the game.
Coach Flathers says the team is ready for the state tournament
Red Oak concludes a strong season at 26–11 as Riverside advances to the Class 2A state tournament at Xtream Arena in Coralville.
