After falling to North Tama in their previous three meetings this season, the No. 11 Rebels swept aside the No. 5 Redhawks on their way to Tuesday’s Class 1A Region 3 finals with a 25-18, 25-17, 25-23 triumph on Thursday night inside the ‘Hawks’ Nest.’

A thrilling five-set loss in Reinbeck two weeks ago gave Gladbrook-Reinbeck (27-9) the confidence it needed to know it could get past North Tama (26-8) should the two neighboring schools meet again. The Rebels made good on their fourth chance at the Redhawks and knocked them off one win shy of their shot at back-to-back state tournament berths.

“At this point it is more of a mental thing because physically we’re matched up, we know what they’re doing, they know what we’re doing, it’s now the mental thing,” said G-R head coach Paula Kelley. “This is their home court, this is their favorite surroundings and we’ve played here before. Coming in we were really prepping for a lot of noise, how to focus and we really worked on that the last couple days.”

North Tama, which a year ago made the school’s state tournament debut, couldn’t duplicate the regional semifinal magic that got them past Montezuma last fall in Traer. The Redhawks rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat those Braves before sweeping Coon Rapids-Bayard in the regional finals, but Gladbrook-Reinbeck managed to ward off North Tama’s comeback attempt and finished off a surprising sweep.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE - Gladbrook-Reinbeck senior outside hitter Haleigh Berendes (9) goes up for the kill against North Tama’s Isabel Sierra (4) during the second set of Thursday’s Class 1A regional volleyball final in Traer. Berendes had 11 kills as the No. 11 Rebels beat the Redhawks in three sets.

Gladbrook-Reinbeck’s serving, though erratic, was on target when it found its way across the net. North Tama’s offense was rarely in system, and the Redhawks’ final numbers reflected as much. Junior right-side hitter Katie Kopriva finished with a team-leading five kills, and she’s the eighth-leading attacker in all of 1A.

The second-leading hitter — Gladbrook-Reinbeck sophomore Saari Kuehl — came away with a match-high 12 kills, including two of the last three points of the match to help the Rebels rally from their only dangerous deficit of the night. North Tama led 23-22 in the third set before G-R rustled up the finishing run.

It was something the Rebels didn’t have in them two weeks ago, but a task they believed they could complete with the season on the line.

“I anticipated a five-game match,” said Kelley. “Yesterday’s practice I did a tug-of-war game and we actually pulled out a rope and showed them it’s going to be give-and-take and it’s going to be like that the whole night. It was just about who’s going to finish up on top.”

On this night, it was the Rebels and it was evident from the outset. Gladbrook-Reinbeck led thanks to a fast start from senior outside hitter Haleigh Berendes. She scored five points in a row for G-R, including a service ace, to help her team pull in front 13-11. A trio of North Tama errors and Rachel Cooley’s ace made it 17-11, and the Rebels eventually picked up the first set 25-18.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

An ace from Kopriva put North Tama on top 5-4 in the second set before G-R scored seven of the next nine points to lead 11-7. Abby DeBoef and Alexis Hansen helped the Redhawks stem the tide with a double block on Justina Eggers to get within 12-10, but Rachael Scarf served up a 4-0 run that opened the Rebel advantage back to 16-10.

After back-to-back G-R miscues, the Rebels rattled off six of the next eight points to push ahead 22-13, with middle hitter Meriah Wittgreve getting in the groove with setter and fellow senior Madison Denny-Weber to counter the increased output from North Tama senior outside hitter Karly Jans.

Jans racked up all three of her kills for the night in a late push, but it wasn’t enough as the Redhawks fell behind 2-0 after the 25-17 Rebel triumph.

G-R and North Tama played that game of tug-of-war throughout the third set, with neither team taking control until a kill by Kuehl, a combo block by Scarf and Eggers, and consecutive aces by Denny-Weber sparked the first four-point surge for an 18-16 Rebel lead.

Gladbrook-Reinbeck edged farther in front, 20-17, before a DeBoef kill quelled the rally. Kopriva and Hansen teamed up to stuff a Kuehl attack, and another DeBoef kill put the Redhawks on top 22-21. Eggers countered with a swing off the block to make it 22-all, but North Tama notched the go-ahead point and took control of the serve.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

Two weeks ago, Gladbrook-Reinbeck came up short in their shot at North Tama, but the Rebels rose to the occasion this time around. Kuehl found a hole in the opposite corner for a kill, Berendes dropped one down and Kuehl finished again to put away the Redhawks 25-23 in game three for the stunning sweep.

“We worked so hard on it, we just wanted it so bad and everyone showed it today I thought,” said Kuehl. “We watched some more film and found the holes and looked closer at everything and everyone was able to hit their spots tonight.”

Both teams struggled from the service line as G-R made nine errors and North Tama had eight, but the Rebels made up for it with 11 aces to the Redhawks’ five.

Kuehl (12) and Berendes (11) powered the G-R attack, with Eggers and Wittgreve getting two kills apiece. Denny-Weber ended the night with 25 assists.

Cooley went 15-for-17 serving with four aces, Berendes was 10-for-10 with three aces, and Denny-Weber was 12-for-12 with two aces.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

Katelyn Kucera had three of North Tama’s five aces, while Katie and Tokoa Kopriva each had one. Jans and DeBoef had three kills apiece, and Carlie Gorder and setter Isabel Sierra both had two. Hansen and Katie Kopriva each had three blocks.

“They just had that confidence, that ‘I want to win, we need to win this game’ and I don’t think we had that just as much as they did,” said Katie Kopriva. “There was definitely a lot of pressure on us. I feel like our team had a little bit of that and that kept our team from staying on the positive side of things. It was hard having that No. 5 ranking, that target on our backs, knowing people want to beat us.

“It makes us seem like we’re not as good as last year and that’s not it. We improve every year, but I think that pressure really set in on us this year.”

Gladbrook-Reinbeck, not North Tama, will advance to Tuesday’s regional finals in Boone. The Rebels will take on Ar-We-Va (17-10), which scored a stunning upset of its own with Thursday’s 3-1 victory over No. 13 CAM of Anita, 24-26, 25-18, 25-20, 25-23.

“We’ve been group chatting all day and all they’ve been doing is throwing out quotes all day long,” said Kelley, “so I took those quotes and posted them all over the bus for the way over here. It was everything from ‘Toy Story’ to Harry Truman. They wanted this bad, I don’t think there was any stopping us.”