VAN HORNE – Ninth-ranked Gladbrook-Reinbeck knocked down 3-0 the No. 11 Springville Orioles during the Wednesday, Oct. 29 Class 1A Region 7 final played at Benton Community High School to advance to the Iowa Girls High School State Volleyball Championships for the first time since 2022. The Rebels defeated the Orioles 25-21, 25-16, 26-24 Wednesday night in Van Horne, avenging their previous 2021 state quarterfinal loss to the Springville team.

Against Springville, senior Elly Sieh led the Rebel offense with 13 kills. Junior Jada Cheville had 10 and senior Kennedy Brant notched nine. Seniors Brinn Schneider and Leila Thesing added three and two more, respectively. Rebel junior Kailey Larsen totaled 28 assists out of a team total 32.

Brant led G-R’s defense with a dozen digs and served 12-for-13 with one ace. Larsen contributed 10 more digs and was 14-for-14 at the service line with four aces. Thesing also had an ace.

The Rebels (27-13) were scheduled to face No. 2 seed Janesville (31-11) in a Class 1A state quarterfinal match this past Tuesday, Nov. 4, beginning at 6:25 p.m. at Xtream Arena in Coralville. The last time G-R qualified for the state tournament in 2022, they went all the way to the championship round before suffering a heartbreaking 3-2 loss to Ankeny Christian.

The Sun Courier will feature coverage from the state tournament in the Friday, Nov. 14 edition.