MANNING (Sept. 27) -- In a WIC showdown between two evenly-matched volleyball teams, IKM-Manning had its chances in the final two sets but couldn’t get over the hump in a 3-1 home loss to Underwood Thursday night, falling 12-25, 25-15, 20-25, 22-25. The Wolves are now 12-10 overall (3-4 in the Western Iowa Conference).

 AVOCA (Sept. 27) -- The AHSTW volleyball team improved to 21-7 overall Thursday night with a 25-17, 25-20, 25-18 win over Riverside. The Lady Vikes are 4-3 in Western Iowa Conference play. AHSTW finished with a team kill efficiency of .350 against the Bulldogs, getting 11 kills from Kinsey Scheffler (.320), six from Kate Wise (.150), five from Kailey Jones (.556) and four from Madison Simonsen (.571).

 DENISON (Sept. 25) -- The Harlan Community girls won their sixth consecutive team title and the Cyclone boys (second) earned their best finish of the year at last Tuesday’s Monarch Cross Country Invite in Denison. Five Cyclone girls placed between fifth and 10th with a spread time of just 38 seconds, resulting in a winning score of 37.

 HARLAN (Sept. 25) -- Five times on Tuesday night, the Harlan Community volleyball team had a set point to win either the first or third game vs.

 HARLAN (Sept.

 NEOLA (Sept. 25) -- Tri-Center served 15 aces and stayed unbeaten in Western Iowa Conference play Tuesday night with a 25-15, 25-11, 25-9 sweep of the IKM-Manning volleyball team. The seventh-ranked (2A) Trojans improved to 19-6 overall and 6-0 in the WIC.

 ANITA (Sept.

 AVOCA (Sept. 21) -- Blake Osbahr threw four touchdown passes and Gabe Pauley ran for three scores last Friday night to lead the second-ranked AHSTW football team past Riverside 48-3 in the Class A, District 9 opener for both squads. The Vikings (5-0) scored all of their points in the first half on Homecoming night before playing their reserves with a running clock the rest of the way.

 FORT DODGE (Sept. 21) -- Kyler and Amos Rasmussen both ran for a pair of touchdowns and IKM-Manning’s defense took a shutout into the final two minutes last Friday as the Wolves opened district play with a 41-8 win at Fort Dodge St.

 HARLAN (Sept.

 ADEL (Sept. 21) -- The defense of Adel-DeSoto-Minburn was as good as advertised Friday night.

 ELK HORN (Sept. 20) -- The Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton volleyball team lost a pair of Rolling Valley Conference matches last week vs. CAM and at Coon Rapids-Bayard. The Cougars swept the Spartans 25-11, 25-9, 25-12 on Tuesday night (Sept. 18) in Elk Horn. Two nights later, Exira-EHK won a set but was defeated 3-1 at Coon Rapids-Bayard (25-20, 12-25, 18-25, 16-25), dropping to 1-4 in the RVC and 1-17 overall.

 COUNCIL BLUFFS (Sept.

 CRESTON (Sept.

 ADEL (Sept. 21) -- What a difference a year makes; or a month, for that matter. When glancing through Harlan Community’s 2018 football schedule in August, the Week 5 district opener at Adel-DeSoto-Minburn was not necessarily the attention grabber that it is today. The Tigers finished 1-8 last season, including a 55-7 loss in Harlan.