John Bohnenkamp for Pen City Current Sports
FORT MADISON - Melissa Freesmeier doesn’t need a calendar.
The Holy Trinity volleyball coach knows the look her players get at this time of the year.
“I see it in their eyes,” Freesmeier said. “It’s October. It’s a little bit different.”
The Crusaders found out their postseason path on Thursday, when the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union released the regional pairings.
The Crusaders, 23-4 overall and 7-0 in the SEI Superconference South Division, are the top seed in Class 1A Region 8, with the possibility of three matches at home in the tournament.
The Crusaders are on a three-match winning streak, sweeping both of their matches this week against Central Lee and Danville.
“I feel like in the postseason, we always kick it up a notch,” said senior Natalie Randolph after Thursday’s three-set sweep of Danville. “And that’s what we showed tonight. So I’m just excited for the rest of the season.”
“It’s October, and this is what we needed,” Freesmeier said. “A couple of weeks ago, we were healing after being a little bit under the weather. But these kids are healthy and hungry.”
“We’ve really started connecting in practice, and that’s a great thing, considering we’re going into the postseason,” said senior Taegan Denning. “We’ve been doing a lot of team bonding. There’s a lot of trust in each other. When someone’s down, we all have their back.”
Holy Trinity, ranked third in Class 1A, opens tournament play on October 16 with a home match against Moulton-Udell. The winner of that match faces the winner of Winfield-Mount Union/Danville on October 18 in the quarterfinals.
The other side of the top part of the bracket has Moravia playing Pekin and Notre Dame playing New London in the first round.
Semifinals are October 23, with the regional final on October 25.
The bottom bracket features No. 14 Edgewood-Colesburg against Marquette Catholic in the first round. Other first-round matches include Clayton Ridge against Easton Valley, Calamus-Wheatland against Prince of Peace, and North Cedar against Midland.
The Crusaders like their momentum heading into the postseason.
“We are seeing really good things out of our offense,” Freesmeier said. “We’ve been digging the ball so well. I was happy with that. We were relentless on (the defensive) side.”
“This team is capable of doing great things,” said senior Mary Kate Bendlage after Thursday’s match. “Tonight showed how great we can be. I don’t think we let a ball drop — we were diving for everything.”
Fort Madison opens Class 4A Region 8 play at home against Burlington on October 17. The winner of that match will play at Oskaloosa in the semifinals on October 19.
The other side of the bracket has Mount Pleasant playing at Keokuk on October 17, with the winner playing top-ranked Clear Creek-Amana in the semifinals.
The regional final is October 24.
Central Lee opens Class 3A play at No. 11 Solon on October 18. The winner of that match plays either Tipton or Mediapolis in the Region 8 semifinals on October 20.
The other side of the bracket has No. 4 Davenport Assumption playing Washington in the first round, with the winner playing Fairfield or Davis County in the semifinals.
The regional final is October 24.
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