CORALVILLE — Both Bishop Heelan and Pella volleyball were battle-tested heading into the Class 4A Iowa high school state volleyball tournament championship match.

Bishop Heelan and Pella both played over 40 games on the season, setting them up to play through any potential adversity.

Ultimately, the biggest beneficiary of that was Bishop Heelan as it rolled to a state title sweep in three sets (25-10, 25-13 and 25-17) at Xtream Arena on Thursday afternoon. This is Bishop Heelan’s fourth state title in volleyball and the program’s first since 2007.

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“We came into the match ready to play,” senior setter Maddie LaFleur said. “We knew that we only had one game and we’re going to give it all we had, leave it on the court.”

The Crusaders opened with a dominant 25-10 in the first set. The offense was incredibly efficient behind LeFluer, who assisted on all 13 of Bishop Heelan’s kills in the set. While Ava Lloyd and Maliyah Hacker each had five kills, four different Crusaders posted kills in the set, showing LeFluer’s efficiency in distributing the ball.

In the second set, Bishop Heelan’s efficiency continued. With 14 kills in the set, the Crusaders had just four total errors in the second frame. That was in comparison to Pella’s 10, gifting the Crusaders an additional 10 tallies on the scoreboard in a set they were already dominating of offense.

Pella continued to improve throughout the matchup, but Bishop Heelan’s dominance ultimately was too much to overcome. The Crusaders rolled in the third set as well, winning it 25-17 with 17 kills among the team to cap off a dominant tournament.

In total, Lloyd and Hacker combined for 34 kills and just four errors. LaFluer had 36 of the team’s 44 assists. Between the three, they had 38 of the squads’ 59 digs.

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The second-seeded Crusaders did not concede a single set in three matches during the tournament and defeated the 2023 state champions, North Scott, along the way.

Bishop Heelan head coach Lauren Boatman pointed to the senior leadership of LaFleur and Hacker in particular for the success. Both of them came into the season intending to put the Crusaders back on top in the state of Iowa.

“I think it goes back to Maddie and Maliyah being great leaders on and off the court, keeping everybody focused all week long,” Boatman said. “It was great to see.”

Pella has a lot to be proud of this season, finishing 41-8 and making the state tournament for the first time since 2018, making the state title match in head coach Joel Allman’s first season.

“This group is just such a special group of people,” Allman said. “They spread so much light in this world and I’m glad the state got to see them up here this whole week.”

Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.