Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The momentum in Tuesday’s Mississippi Valley Conference match between West High and Linn-Mar bounced around nearly as much volleyball.

It was Linn-Mar that seemed to find the momentum on its side of the net in the critical moments.

Linn-Mar got a match-high 23 kills from sophomore Kate Passmore and 12 from Kelsey Klesner in a wild 25-23, 23-25, 25-21, 25-20 win over West High in Iowa City.

“Momentum was big and it was definitely all over the place tonight,” West High coach Keeley Arnold said. “We’ve had a couple of lineup changes with one of our setters out so the communication when it ebbed and flowed is when the momentum shifted.”

West High got 11 kills from Melae’ Lacy and nine kills and two ace blocks from senior Sophia Deyak but let late leads slip away in both the first and fourth sets while dropping to 3-7 on the season and 1-2 in MVC Valley Division play.

Linn-Mar improved to 5-4 on the year and 2-1 in MVC action with the win.

“We’ve had a little bit of trouble finishing over the week and a half and I think a lot of it is communication and confidence with a new lineup,” Arnold said. “We just need to shore things up.”

West High controlled the opening set but found itself trailing 17-15 after a 6-1 run by the Lions.

In the first of many momentum swings of the match the Trojans responded by scoring seven of the next nine points and took a 22-19 lead on a Lucy Schmid ace serve.

In what turned into a pattern on momentum swung toward the Lions late as Linn-Mar closed the first set on a 6-1 run that featured three kills from the 5-foot-11 Passmore.

“We’d be on top of Passmore at times and then we’d let her back in,” Arnold said. “That was a big part of it.”

Linn-Mar followed up its late surge in the opening set with a 7-0 run to start the second but West High came roaring back to score the next six points.

In all on Tuesday there were six instances where a team scored five or more consecutive points.

West High came all the way back from the early 7-0 deficit to win the second set 25-23 despite a late 5-0 charge from Linn-Mar.

Deyak and Lacy each had three kills in the second set and Deyak had one of her two ace blocks in the second.

“Sophia has grown a lot as a player and that gives us a little more versatility,” Arnold said. “That allows us to spread the ball all the way across the net.”

West High nearly pulled off another rally in the third set, cutting a 19-11 deficit to 23-21 before falling 25-21.

The Trojans had a 18-17 lead in the fourth set but Linn-Mar scored 8 of the final 10 points to put the match away.

“We are only going to get better,” Arnold said. “I never fault them for their fight, they are always going to be in there to fight we just need to have more consistency across the board.

West High      23  25  21  20

Linn-Mar       25  23  25  25

West High (Kills-aces-blocks)

Lucy Schmid 3-3-0, Kristiana Washington 0-0-1, Melae’ Lacy 11-1-0, Lexi Nash 0-2-0, Gianna Liu 4-0-0, Lily Prochaska 5-0-0, Sophia Deyak 9-0-2, Totals 32-6-3.
Assists – Lily Prochaska 18

Linn-Mar (Kills-aces-blocks)

Sydney Carsello 2-2-0, Kate Passmore 23-0-0, Emersyn Gries 5-0-2, Tessa Casebolt 3-2-1, Georgi Patten 12-1-0, Kelsey Klesner 7-1-1, Riley Long 0-3-0, Totals 52-7-6.

Assists – Tessa Casebolt 21, Sydney Kleist 20,

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