Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The 2021 edition of the annual Battle for the Spike appeared to be the most evenly matched contest between cross-town rivals City High and West High in the past several seasons.

It wasn’t.

City High controlled the match from the outset and stunned Class 5A No. 11 West High in an emphatic 25-11, 25-13, 26-24 sweep on Thursday evening at City High.

“I think we really came together as a team, we really worked as a family,” City High sophomore Claire Ernst said. “We talked a lot about energy and executing the little things and I think that we really did that tonight. We really focused on being a team and working together and that’s what got us here.”

Ernst had a match-high 12 kills to lead four Little Hawks with at least five kills as City High won the Battle for the Spike for the third consecutive season.

City High swept West High in the regular season meeting last year but the Trojans had the last laugh in 2020 with a four-set regional quarterfinal win over the Little Hawks.

Nearly 11 months later the redemption that came with Thursday’s win was welcome for the Little Hawks.

“Last year losing to them it really hurt,” City High senior setter Makayla Ribble said. “We wanted to give it our all and I told the team we could do it. I think believing in ourselves is our biggest issue and tonight we really did believe we could do it.”

Just as West High did in the postseason matchup last season City High was in control from the outset on Thursday.

In a match that appeared even on paper City High was dominant in the first two sets.

City High allowed West High to score two or more consecutive points just three times in the opening two sets.

The Little Hawks 11 runs of 3-0 or more while winning the first two sets.

“I think the first two we were executing, we were in system, we were passing and serving I think that was probably our best two sets of the year,” City High coach Tricia Carty said. “We were playing with some emotion and everybody was doing everything the right way.”

The opening set was tied 6-6 before City High scored six of the next seven points to take a 12-7 lead.

West High would never get closer than four points the rest of the way as the Little Hawks scored 13 of the final 17 points.

“Energy dictates a lot of the game,” Ernst said. “We’ve been working on our energy a lot in practice and I think that really helped us tonight.”

The momentum of the first set carried over to the second.

City High jumped to a 13-4 lead and never let the Trojans get closer than four points the rest of the way.

West High closed the gap to 13-9 but City High responded with a 7-1 spurt.

“In the locker room we talked about how our biggest thing is energy,” Ribble said. “We go down and up in energy and reaching that point of staying at that highest energy and tonight we were able to keep high energy.”

City High led the third set 20-15 before West High showed late life.

The Trojans used a 7-1 burst to take a 22-21 lead and led 24-23 after a Melae’ Lacy kill.

Carty took a timeout facing set point and City High responded.

An Ernst kill tied the match at 24 and the Little Hawks took advantage of a pair of West High hitting errors to complete the sweep.

City High finished with a 35-22 advantage in kills with freshman Emmy McComas adding six kills and Sara Cassady and Ribble each adding five.

Ruby McDonough had four kills and Lauren Koch had three.

“The regional final game last year wasn’t our cleanest game,” Carty said. “We were a little bit out of sync so for some of them coming back and being able to play and have fun and do everything well, set, pass and transition I was really proud of them.”

Sydney Woods had a team-high five kills for West High while Lacy had five.

City High       25  25  26

West High      11  13  24

City High (Kills-aces-blocks)

Emmy McComas 6-0-0, Harper O’Brien 0-1-0, Sara Cassady 5-0-0, Makayla Ribble 5-3-0, Claire Ernst 12-3-2, Ruby McDonough 4-0-1, Lauren Koch 3-0-0.

Assists – Makayla Ribble 21

West High (Kills-aces-blocks)

Melae’ Lacy 5-1-0, Raina Pfeifer 2-0-1, Carmen Crabtree 2-1-1, Sydney Woods 10-0-0, Sophia Deyak 3-0-0, Totals 22-2-2.

Assists – Emma Stammeyer 14, Emma Dunlap 7

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