DES MOINES, Iowa – The finals are set after Benedictine Mesa (Ariz.) and Grand View (Iowa) won their respective semifinal on Friday night in the Iowa Events Center.

SCORES

Benedictine Mesa (Ariz.) def. Vanguard (Calif.) 3-1, (25-22, 25-21, 32-34, 25-19) BOX SCORE

Grand View (Iowa) vs Park (Mo.), 3-0 (25-22, 28-26, 25-16) BOX SCORE 

Semifinal 1

Set 1: An early battle for the lead turned to a five-point lead for Benedictine Mesa (Ariz.) after a 7-1 run. The Redhawks extended their lead to as much as eight points in the set. Vanguard (Calif.) slowly worked their way back to within three points but couldn't make up the difference before Benedictine Mesa closed out the set at 25-22.

Set 2: The teams traded points to start set two and tied at 14 and 20 before Benedictine Mesa went on a 6-1 run to end the set.

Set 3: Vanguard battled back in set three as the teams tied 23 times in set three alone. The Redhawks faced match point at 23-24 but thanks to a kill from Matthew Roussin of Vanguard, the Lions stormed back. After 10 set points, Vanguard landed three points and captured their first set win of the match with a final score of 34-32.

Set 4: The teams matched each other point for point once again to start set four until Benedictine put together a 12-4 run to create the space they needed to close out the match with a score of 25-19.

Stats

• Kyle Anema of Vanguard led all scorers with 21 kills in the match, which is just five kills short of matching the championship record. Landon Fuller of Benedictine followed with 15 kills of his own.
•  Bobby Henige of Benedictine Mesa posted an impressive hitting percentage of 0.625 with 10 kills on 16 attempts and no errors.
• Grant DeGrasse of Benedictine Mesa led the defensive effort with 16 digs in the match. Cameron Way of Vanguard followed with 13 digs of his own.
• The set three final score is the highest set score in championship history.

Semifinal 2

Set 1: The teams battle back and forth at the beginning until after a tie at 8, Grand View (Iowa) went on a five point run. The Pirates tried to close the gap and came within three but the Vikings closed out the set 25-22.

Set 2: Grand View took an initial lead in the second set but after tying the score at 22 Park pushed the Vikings past 25 before two kills from Felix Chapman and Danny Wong to close the set 28-26

Set 3: The Vikings jumped out to an early lead and advanced that lead to as much as ten points. Grand View held that lead to a 25-16 win.

Stats

• Felix Chapman of Grand View led all scorers with 24 kills, which was only two kills short of the record he set in the championship in 2019. Joao Friedrich of Park followed with 16 kills of his own.
• Grand View recorded an impressive 13.5 total blocks in the match.
• The Vikings had a balanced defensive effort with one player having six digs and three recording five digs apiece.

The championship match will be streamed on ESPN3. 

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