CORALVILLE, Iowa – They met four times during the regular season and now Waukee Northwest and Ankeny Centennial will meet again in the final match of the year.

   Top-seeded Northwest (37-1) will try for its second Class 5A championship in the past three years when it faces No. 2 seed Centennial (31-5) for the 2025 title at 10 a.m. Thursday inside Xtream Arena.

   Northwest swept the four earlier matches, though Centennial did account for two of the four sets the Wolves have lost this season in a 3-2 Northwest victory back on Sept. 2.

   Northwest advanced with a 3-0 sweep of fifth-seeded Ankeny, 25-12, 25-15, 25-20. Junior Avery Vogt led the Wolves with 19 kills, 10 digs and four blocks. Piper Ludwig, also a junior, added 10 kills and hit .500 for the match. Both Northwest standouts have committed to play for Iowa State.

   Vogt’s sister Avery, a senior who’ll play at Drake next season, set up her teammates with 38 assists and tacked on five digs. Libero London Taylor led with 16 digs, while Avery Cordes contributed five blocks and six kills.

   Hailey Wiederin led Ankeny (28-9) with seven kills and Macie Kohl had 11 assists.

   Northwest dispatched the Hawkettes quickly in the first two sets, then had to rally from a 9-1 deficit in the third. Ankeny kept it close down the stretch and trailed  just 19-18 before Northwest picked up a point on a service error and then closed it out with five kills.

   Centennial swept aside sixth-seeded West Des Valley 25-18, 25-19 and 25-20 to earn a shot at a fifth state championship. A balanced hitting attack did the trick for the Jaguars, who got eight kills each from Tatum Schmidt and Sophia Heither, seven from Ellie Pollock, six from Mady Ott and five from Maegan Cheeseman.

   Cheeseman also had 15 assists, while Schmidt assisted on 14 kills. Mya Lei-Buttes led the team with 17 digs and Cheeseman added 16 in a solid all-around performance.

   Thia Raridon led Valley (28-13) with 11 kills. Kaelyn Wieland compiled eight kills, 18 assists and 15 digs for the Tigers, who upset defending champion Pleasant Valley in the quarterfinals.