Cedar Rapids Xavier volleyball wasn鈥檛 settling for anything but a state title this year
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (BVM) — As Cedar Rapids Xavier hoisted the IHSAA Class 4A volleyball state championship trophy on Nov. 5, Saints head coach Austin Filer 肠辞耻濒诲苍鈥檛 help but think back to everything it had taken to get to that moment.
鈥淚 could tell you story after story about each one of those kids and the sacrifices that they made,鈥� Filer said.聽
For Xavier, it all began at last year’s tournament. The Saints were entering the state tournament as the No. 2 seed and were one of the favorites to win it all after losing in the state finals the year before.聽
They were facing Western Dubuque in the first round, a team that they had beaten in the regular season and were once again favored to beat in the tournament.
鈥淲e weren鈥檛 looking past Western Dubuque but everyone else was,鈥� Filer said.
The Saints jumped out to a 2-0 lead but then lost the last three sets. It was heartbreaking.
鈥淭hat was a tough loss for a lot of different reasons,鈥� Filer said.
Although Xavier had been dealing injuries to key players and had to have players play out of position due those injuries, they had still been favored. It was viewed as an upset and the team felt the pain from that loss. In a year where they and many others thought they would be going back to the championship game, they came up short.
鈥淚t was a big adversity for us,鈥� Filer said.聽
In the face of that adversity, Filer and the team looked to the University of Virginia men鈥檚 basketball team, a team that made history being the first No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The team then came back the next and won a national championship.聽
It was a quote from the Cavaliers head coach Tony Bennet that really stood to the Saints.
鈥溾�楢dversity if you know how to use it can buy you a ticket to a place you never could have gotten to,鈥� and I think that鈥檚 true for us,鈥� Filer said.聽
Using adversity as a motivator, the girls worked hard during their club season until COVID-19 ended it. They then came back together as a team in June to do beach volleyball training. Then as they continued to train, they also got to work helping clean up their community after a derecho devastated Cedar Rapids.聽聽
As Xavier entered the season, it had only one goal: win state. Led by a strong and talented senior class, the Saints never wavered from that goal. Filer and his coaching staff also supported that leadership by taking a hands-off approach.
鈥淚 gave up the reins to a lot of things that I didn鈥檛 in prior years,鈥� Filer said.
The girls were in charge of drills at practice. They decided when drills would start, when they would end and when the team was allowed to get water breaks. During regular season games, Filer would not call timeouts, forcing the Saints to figure it out for themselves when things weren鈥檛 going their way.聽
鈥淭his was the first year that it felt like they took full ownership,鈥� Filer said.
Xavier played well during the regular season and was entering the state tournament as the No. 1 seed. However, for Filer, the moment that he knew his team was going to win state came two or three practices before the tournament began.
鈥淭he level of focus was higher than it’s ever been,鈥� Filer said. 鈥淵ou could see a switch flip.鈥�
During those practices, no ball hit the floor without an effort to save it. The Saints were playing defense so well that they were slowing down their own hitters. In particular, the seniors, a group of girls that had been through so much heartbreak of last season as well as losing in the championship the year before, were not letting anything get in the way of their championship.
鈥淭hose seniors were not going to let us lose a set at state,鈥� Filer said.
That鈥檚 exactly what they did. The Saints did not lose a single set during the state tournament on their way to a state championship. That included beating Western Dubuque in the semifinals.
Finding themselves in the same situation they were in last year, up 2-0 on Western Dubuque, Xavier pushed through all the baggage that came from their lost year and won the third set to go to the finals.
鈥淲e knew some of our demons lied with that loss last year,鈥� Filer said.
What the Saints did this season was the culmination of years of hard work. Players that came before them to set Xavier up to do what they did this year and this team will now be what future teams look to emulate.
鈥淚鈥檓 really proud that they set a tone for kids that are in sixth or seventh grade right now that are watching Xavier volleyball,鈥� Filer said.
