Harlan finished with a season record of 15-23. The victory for West Delaware moved their record to 42-4 on the season, and sent them to the semifinals for a chance at revenge on the Crusaders.

Heffernen contributed 11 kills in the Harlan match, while Havertape and Reinig were close behind with nine each. The team hit .435, committing juts six attack errors. Ashlee Allison had nine digs and five aces.

Friday was scairly reminiscent of the 2006 state tournament.

With the Crusaders and Hawks slotted for battle, the Hawks appeared to be racing out for the victory early.

Scoring first in each of the first two games, the Hawks weren’t going to give the Crusaders a chance to catch them. Heelan never held a lead until game three.

After jumping out to a 16-11 lead over the Crusaders, the Hawks saw their lead cut to two, 18-16.
The Hawks settled in after a time out and finished game one with a 25-20 victory.

WD continued the dominance into game two, where once again, the Hawks scored first and never fell behind. Heelan contributed to a little of their own demise in game two, with four of WD’s last five points coming from Crusader errors.

With a 2-0 lead over Heelan, the Hawks had to find victory in just one of the final three games.
Unfortunately, the Crusaders were also on the lookout too.

The story of the day seemed to be: score first, win the game. In all five games, whichever team recorded the first point, was the team that came out on top in the end.

Heelan came out with fire in their eyes in game three. This time, the Crusaders took the first lead and never lost it. Heelan dominated game three, but the Hawks still had a 2-1 lead.

Game four was almost identical to three. It started with a Heelan kill, and WD didn’t see a lead until they went up for the duration of one point, 18-17. Heelan quickly took care of that, and the Hawks went down in game four, 25-21.

It was all or nothing in game five. Fifteen points and a strong Heelan team was all that stood between the Hawks and their chance at the 2007 state volleyball championship match.

Heelan took a 3-0 lead right off the bat, and WD saw they needed to pick things up. Emily Heffernen started in on the Crusaders, and got the Hawks to within two, 14-12.

With waves of black and orange electrifying the U.S. Cellular Center, the WD volleyball players, coaches, fans and parents saw their victory slip away into the hands of the Bishop-Heelan Crusaders, 15-12.

Heelan went on to defeat Mount Vernon in the 3A State Championship match on Saturday to defend their state title.

West Delaware senior Emily Heffernen was named to the 3A All-Tournament team. Joining her were Carli Tritz of Heelan, Natalie Hackbarth of Algona, Emily Ryan of Mount Vernon, Shelby Kintzle of Mount Vernon and captain Mindy Moody of Heelan. Algona received the sportsmanship award.
WD vs. Harlan

Kills: Emily Heffernen, 11; Tessa Reinig 9; Emily Havertape, 9; Ashlee Allison, 4; Allison Pasker, 3
Assists: Tess Wegner, 28; Ashlee Allison, 2; Emily Heffernen, 2; Kayla Bries, 1; Allison Pasker, 1
Aces: Ashlee Allison, 5; Kayla Bries, 1; Tess Wegner, 1; Emily Heffernen, 1
Blocks: Emily Heffernen, 2; Emily Havertape, 1; Alli-son Pasker, 1; Ashlee Allison, 1;
Digs: Ashlee Allison, 9; Tess Wegner, 6; Kayla Bries, 4; Tessa Reinig, 4; Emily Havertape, 4; Emily Heffernen, 3; Allison Pasker, 2; Kayla Vaske, 1
Kill %: Game 1: .579; Game 2: .467; Game 3: .250

WD vs. Heelan
Kills: Emily Heffernen, 23; Tessa Reinig, 9; Emily Havertape, 6; Allison Pasker, 6; Tess Wegner, 3; Ashlee Allison, 3
Assists: Tess Wegner, 44; Emily Heffernen, 3; Emily Havertape, 1; Ashlee Allison, 1
Aces: Tessa Reinig, 2; Tess Wegner, 2; Emily Havertape, 2; Kayla Bries, 1; Ashlee Allison, 1
Blocks: Emily Havertape, 2; Allison Pasker, 2; Emily Heffernen, 2;Ashlee Allison, 1
Digs: Kayla Bries, 22; Emily Havertape, 15; Emily Heffernen, 12; Tess Wegner, 9; Tessa Reinig, 8; Allison Pasker, 3; Ashlee Allison, 3; Kayla Vaske, 1
Kill %: Game 1: .286; Game 2: .102; Game 3: .122; Game 4: .103; Game 5: .250