Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

The volleyball postseason is here.

Regional play opens for teams across the state this week with Solon starting the postseason action for Your Prep Sports area teams on Monday.

The goal for every team is a trip to the state tournament which will be held for the first time at Xtream Arena in Coralville from October 31 to November 3.

Here is quick breakdown of the postseason path for all seven Your Prep Sports area teams.

West Branch

Region: Class 2A, Region 6

Opening opponent: West Branch (16-16) will host Waterloo Columbus (11-28) in a Region 6 quarterfinal on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Breakdown: A season that started with a new coaching staff and plenty of new faces in different positions in the lineup for West Branch could get a big boost with a strong postseason showing.

West Branch has been solid this season under first-year co-head coaches Monica Tylee and Becky Hosier and enters the postseason 16-16.

The Bears have gotten a stellar senior season from Iva Senio who leads the team with 255 kills to go with 20 blocks and 263 digs.

For West Branch to make a serious run in Region 6 it will likely need big production from juniors Kylie Pickett (166 kills) and Emily Coleman (157 kills).

West Branch has the benefit of hosting Waterloo Columbus in the opening round.

The Sailors enter on a five-match losing streak and have lost seven of their last eight.

If West Branch can advance it would likely earn a trip to ninth-ranked Sumner-Fredericksburg (28-10) in the semifinals.

Sixth-ranked Lisbon (36-2) is the top seed in Region 6 and would face the winner of Hudson and Jesup in the other semifinal.

Regina

Region: Class 2A, Region 7

Opening opponent: Regina (18-14) travels to Bellevue (19-7) on Wednesday for a Region 6 quarterfinal.

Breakdown: In a season that many viewed as a rebuilding year for the Regals after the loss of four senior starters the young Regals have raised eyebrows.

Freshman Reese Naeve has quickly established herself as one of the top young players in Class 2A ranking seventh in 2A with 411 kills on .350 hitting.

Fellow freshman Kiley Devery is second on the team with 148 kills, sophomore Caitlin Martin is third with 143 and junior Sydney Wagner has settled in as a leader at setter.

It is easy to point to the Regals as a team a year away from make a serious state title push but Regina would like to make that push this season.

The Regals have a challenging draw starting with a trip to River Valley Conference North Division foe Bellevue on Wednesday.

A win in the quarterfinal would likely set up a trip to third-ranked Wapsie Valley (38-4) in the semifinals.

Wapsie Valley is seeking its third state tournament appearance in the past four years after reaching back-to-back 1A state tournaments in 2019 and 2020.

No. 12 Wilton (22-10) is the second seed in Region 7 and could face No. 14 Dyersville Beckman (26-10) in a semifinal.

Solon

Region: Class 3A, Region 7

Opening opponent: Solon (23-12) hosts Williamsburg (9-20) in a Region 7 quarterfinal on Monday at 7 p.m.

Breakdown: It has already been an impressive breakthrough season for Solon and first-year head coach Mikayla Siddell.

Solon has locked up its first winning season since 2018 and the 23 wins are the most since the Spartans won the Class 3A state title in 2014.

Siddell was a member of that 2014 state title team which was the last time Solon reached the state tournament.

Solon has already shown this season it is capable of playing at the level required to make a long-awaited state tournament return.

The Spartans are among the most balanced teams in 3A with four players with at least 125 kills and 50 blocks.

Senior Delaney Bombei (174 kills, 56 blocks) leads the way while a talented trio of sophomores in Yasmine Sell (126 kills, 121 blocks), Grace Erwin (166 kills, 129 blocks) and Aly Stahle (152 kills, 54 blocks) provide punch.

Solon swept opening-round foe Williamsburg back on September 15 and would face the winner of Albia (17-12) and Chariton (11-18) on Wednesday with a win.

The likely regional title foe would be sixth-ranked and defending 3A runner-up West Liberty (28-7).

West Liberty defeated Solon in three sets (25-19, 18-25, 15-8) in a triangular in the only meeting between the two teams this season on August 30.

Clear Creek Amana

Region: Class 4A, Region 7

Opening opponent: Clear Creek Amana (30-10) will host the winner of Tuesday’s opening-round match between Independence (15-24) and Maquoketa (4-24) in a semifinal on Thursday.

Breakdown: All signs point toward an all-WAMAC regional final with Clear Creek Amana travelling to top-seeded West Delaware (27-14) on October 25.

Tenth-ranked Clear Creek Amana has been one of the hottest teams in Class 4A over the past several weeks winning 12 of its last 14 matches.

The Clippers are battle tested with 19 of their 40 matches this season coming against ranked opponents.

Clear Creek Amana is 9-10 in those matches with all 10 losses coming to top-10 ranked teams.

The Clippers have a bona fide star in junior Bliss Beck who is hitting an incredible .421 while leading Clear Creek Amana with 331 kills and 126 blocks.

Last year’s Class 3A state champion, sixth-ranked West Delaware (27-14) is seeking a fifth consecutive state tournament appearance and needs to get past the winner of Clinton (10-14) and Central DeWitt (6-20) to host the regional final.

Liberty High

Region: Class 5A, Region 4

Opening opponent: Top-ranked Liberty High (28-8) will host the winner of Tuesday’s opening-round match between Cedar Rapids Jefferson (8-22) and Cedar Rapids Washington (2-29) on Thursday at 7 p.m.

Breakdown: Liberty High entered the season top-ranked and one of the favorites to win the Class 5A state title.

As the postseason gets underway neither of those things have changed.

No team in Class 5A has been playing better than Liberty High (28-8) over the past several weeks.

The Lightning have won 13 of their last 15 matches dating back to September 24 with the lone losses during that stretch coming to Class 2A top-ranked Dike-New Hartford and 4A No. 1A Cedar Rapids Xavier.

Since it’s last loss to Cedar Rapids Xavier on October 1 the Lightning have won four in a row with two of those victories straight-set wins over Cedar Rapids Xavier.

Senior standouts Cassidy Hartman (442 kills) and Shelby Kimm (288 kills) lead the way but senior Lilah VanScoyoc (166 kills) has emerged as a strong third option for Liberty High.

The Lightning would host the winner of Cedar Rapids Prairie (13-21) and Muscatine (17-12) in the regional title match.

Liberty High is 2-0 against Cedar Rapids Prairie this season including a 25-11, 25-20, 22-25, 25-13 win over the Hawks in the season opener.

Last season Liberty High swept Muscatine in the regional title game.

West High

Region: Class 5A, Region 6

Opening opponent: West High (10-21) travels to Waterloo East (19-13) for a Region 6 quarterfinal on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Breakdown: West High will be looking to turn around a late-season slump when it opens regional play on Tuesday in Waterloo.

After a five-set win over rival City High on October 4 the Trojans lost six of its final seven matches to close out the regular season.

Granted, four of those six losses were to ranked opponents but West High will still need to build momentum quickly in the postseason to keep its season alive.

Look for West High to lean on junior Melae’ Lacy (239 kills) throughout the postseason and if the Trojans can get solid contributions from senior Sophia Deyak (156 kills, 48 blocks) they become a tough postseason out.

Waterloo East (19-13) has been one of the most improved teams in the state this season going from eight wins a year ago to posting the first winning season and most victories for the program since it went 31-10 in 2010.

If West High can get past Waterloo East in the quarterfinals a trip to eighth-ranked Johnston (22-9) is waiting in the semifinals.

Ninth-ranked West Des Moines Valley (16-19) would be the likely regional final opponent.

City High

Region: Class 5A, Region 8

Opening opponent: City High (17-15) travels to No. 15 Dubuque Senior (20-16) on Thursday for a Region 8 semifinal.

Breakdown: There is a good news/bad news type feel to the postseason draw for City High.

The good news is that the Little Hawks avoided a quarterfinal contest in the five-team Class 5A regional format.

The bad news is that the Little Hawks are facing back-to-back road matches against ranked opponents to return to the state meet for the first time since 2014.

More good news is that City High enters the postseason playing perhaps its best volleyball of the season.

City High has won six of seven matches since a five-set loss to West High on October 4 after going 3-0 at the Mississippi Valley Conference quad to end the regular season.

The Little Hawks have been led this season by the trio of junior Claire Ernst (267 kills), sophomore Emmy McComas (201 kills) and senior Ruby McDonough (146 kills).

City High lost the lone meeting with Dubuque Senior this season falling (20-22, 21-18, 15-6) back on September 24.

If City High can get past the Rams third-ranked and defending state champion Pleasant Valley (25-6) would likely be waiting in the regional title match.

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