West High senior Aubrey SowersBy Ryan Murken  Your Prep Sports
IOWA CITY – Senior night is always an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate a teams’ seniors.

The West High seniors did a lot more than get recognized on Tuesday against Waterloo West – they produced.

West High seniors accounted for 33 of the Women of Troy’s 43 kills on Tuesday in a 25-14, 15-12, 25-18 sweep of Waterloo West (4-18) in a Mississippi Valley Conference Mississippi Division match at West High.

“It’s just awesome because we have been playing together forever,” West High senior setter Maddie Fay said. “We are all best friends and we all want to win together so it was great that we could all come together and play on this night.”

All nine West High seniors played, and played well on Friday as West High improved to 18-11 and 3-2 in MVC play.

Seniors Emma Norris and Ali Tauchen each had eight kills to lead West High while senior Aubrey Sowers had six kills and five assists.
West High senior Maddie Fay
“It was really special that we all got to play considering there are nine of us,” Sowers said. “I think it was really impressive that coach got all nine of us in and with such a talented group that we are I think we pulled it off well and we did a good job gelling.”

Using a lineup made up entirely of its senior class, West High set the tone early.

The Women of Troy used a 5-0 run early in the opening set to take a 6-2 lead and never slowed down.

Sowers had a pair of kills during the early 5-0 spurt and had half of her six kills in the opening set.

“Before the game we knew the tears were going to start flowing especially with the ceremony before the game so we knew we had to come out strong early,” Sowers said. “I think we pulled it off.”

West High used another 5-0 spurt to take a 12-4 lead in the opening set.

The five-point run started and ended with kills by Gabi Delsing and in between Emily Halverson had an ace serve and Tauchen and Sowers each had kills.

Six different West High seniors had a kill in the opening set.

“I just wanted this to be about them,” West High coach Randy Dolson said. “We got all the seniors in the first set and they did a nice job so that’s a credit to them.”

Halverson finished with five kills while Delsing had four.

Fay finished with 32 assists while senior Madi Ford had an ace serve and fellow seniors Carson Miller and Gabby Klemme were productive in their increased roles on Tuesday.

“We have a really great group of girls and it’s really special to be with each and every one of them,” Ford said. “They all have something special for the team and it’s just nice to play with them tonight.”

West High cruised in the second set opening up a 13-2 lead before scoring nine of the final 11 points in a 25-12 win.

The Women of Troy trailed 15-14 in the third set but responded with a 6-1 run to put the match away.

Delsing had an ace serve and Norris, Halverson and Tauchen each had a kill in the 6-1 spurt that put West High up 20-16.

“Maybe we played down a little bit that third set but we got a couple of other kids and we got our secondary setter in and it’s always important to get some playing time for your backups,” Dolson said. “I’m happy overall.”

Junior Colby Greene had all seven of her kills in the final two sets as West High finished with a 43-15 edge in kills.

The Women of Troy wrap up MVC play on Thursday at Cedar Rapids Jefferson before the taking part in the MVC tournament on Saturday at Cedar Rapids Xavier.

“We are past this night, it’s a big emotional night,” Dolson said. “Now we can focus on the rest of the season.”

West High          25 25 25
Waterloo West   14 12 18

(Kills-aces-blocks)
West High
Aubrey Sowers 6-0-0, Madi Ford 0-1-0, Emma Norris 8-1-0, Gabi Delsing 4-2-0, Ali Tauchen 8-0-0, Emily Halverson 5-1-1, Maddie Fay 2-2-0, Cailyn Morgan 1-0-0, Colby Greene 7-0-2, Kitra Bell 2-0-0, Team 43-7-3.
Assists – Maddie Fay 32, Aubrey Sowers 5.

Waterloo West
Rylie Porter 0-1-0, Allison Trenkamp 1-0-0, Lauren Conrey 1-0-0, Abby Newlon 2-0-1, Sydney McFarland 5-1-0, Kaylissa Arndorfer 5-0-0, Shelby Schoonover 1-0-0, Team 15-2-1.
Assists – Lauren Conrey 6, Mary Smith 5, Allison Trenkamp 1.