Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Getting an offensive system running smoothly in volleyball is a complicated process.

From passing to setting to communication there is a lot that has to happen for an offense to be successful.

Describing what makes West High hum on offense is a lot less complicated.

When Melae’ Lacy is good the Trojans are tough to beat. When senior Sydney Woods is also on top of her game – good luck to opponents.

Lacy and Woods both got rolling late on Tuesday as 5A No. 11 West High (12-12) locked up a share of the Mississippi Valley Conference Valley Division title with a 25-18, 14-25, 25-14, 25-23 win over Dubuque Senior (19-14) in Iowa City.

“Melae’ definitely has a lot of power in her swing and I feel like I am a lot more shotty so we balance each other out really well and it helps our team out a lot,” Woods said. “It opens up opportunities for our other hitters as well and gives them one-on-one chances.”

Lacy finished with a match-high 18 kills and Woods added 14 as West High bounced back from a loss to cross-town rival City High on Thursday.

West High finished 6-1 in MVC divisional play finishing in a tie with Cedar Rapids Kennedy and Cedar Rapids Xavier atop the Valley Division.

“Tonight, we focused more on what we needed to do as a team,” Lacy said. “We can’t just on one player we have to work as a team and when we fail we all fail it’s not just one person and I think we came together as a team tonight and played well.”

Lacy was stellar early with five kills in a 25-18 West High win in the opening set.

Woods was excellent in the second set posting four of the Trojans’ nine kills in a 25-14 loss.

Over the final two sets both of the Trojans top hitters were on top of their game.

“After the second set we just talked about having that next play mentality,” Woods said. “If you make a mistake just shake it off and make the next one. I just felt like things flowed a lot better.”

Lacy and Woods combined for 21 kills in the final two sets as West High closed out the win.

Woods had four kills in each of the final two sets while Lacy had seven kills in a 25-14 win in the third set and six more in the match-clinching fourth-set win.

“We try to really spread the offense just to make sure that we are leaving our hitters open and giving them a chance and our setters did a better job of that,” West High coach Keeley Arnold said. “And Melae’ came out and really wanted it.”

West High scored the first three points of the third set and never trailed.

Lacy gave the Trojans an early 3-0 with a kill on a Dubuque Senior over pass.

“Sometimes I get real anxious and I start making mistakes so I knew I had to take a deep breath and know that my teammates have me,” Lacy said. “I just had to do my job and when I relax and play freely I do better.”

The sophomore standout was just getting started.

She had two kills and an ace serve during a 6-1 burst that gave West High an early 11-4 lead.

It was more of the same in the fourth set as West High closed out the match with a 25-23 win.

“We just weren’t clicking on Thursday at all but we thrive off of positive high energy and I think we brough that in the first, third and fourth,” Woods said. “The second we didn’t have that energy and we were a little flat but we brought the energy to the last two.”

Sophia Deyak provided a spark in the middle over the final two sets and finished with seven kills and a pair of ace blocks.

Deyak had six of her seven kills over the final two sets.

“I made a switch in the middle and gave them something else to look at on our offense,” Arnold said. “We spent more time in those long rallies staying settled, staying calm and collected and making sure that we took time to finish those.”

West High                  25  14  25  25

Dubuque Senior      18  25  14  23

West High (Kills-aces-blocks)

Emma Stammeyer 5-0-1, Melae’ Lacy 18-4-0, Emma Dunlap 0-2-0, Mayowa Dokun 1-0-0, Raina Pfeifer 5-0-1, Carmen Crabtree 2-1-1, Sydney Woods 14-0-0, Sophia Deyak 7-0-2, Totals 52-7-5.

Assists – Emma Stammeyer 20, Emma Dunlap 22.

Dubuque Senior (Kills-aces-blocks)

Lucie Lambe 2-0-0, Brooke Sullivan 3-0-1, Alana McDermott 0-2-0, Jenna Lewis 0-1-0, Maggie McDonnell 2-2-0, Maya Watters 14-0-2, Katelyn Kitchen 10-0-2, Olivia Baxter 10-0-4, Totals 41-5-9.

Assists – Maggie McDonnell 25, Jenna Lewis 9

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