Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

CORALVILLE – As four-year starter Melae’ Lacy knows exactly when she needs to take over.

Entering the fifth set of Tuesday’s showdown with Waterloo West at Xtream Arena in Coralville Lacy knew it was one of those times.

With Lacy at the service line West High rattled off 13 consecutive points to erase an 0-2 deficit in the fifth set on its way to a 13-25, 25-16, 25-15, 23-25, 15-5 win over Waterloo West in the middle game of a Mississippi Valley Conference tripleheader.

“I had to step up and get it done,” Lacy said. “Little errors can turn into big leads so I felt like if I could capitalize on my game, my points I feel like the team can build off of that.”

West High (5-11) got a big game from freshman Sophia Austen who had 12 kills but with the match on the line it was the Trojans’ senior leader Lacy that took over.

Lacy has led West High in kills each of the past three seasons, has a team-high 115 kills this year and 849 in her career but on Tuesday it was her serving that was the difference in the fifth set.

Two of the five ace serves for Lacy came during the 13-0 fifth-set burst for the Trojans that secured the win.

“She has been that player for us for a long time but I think it takes a lot mentally to sustain that and she’s had to learn to do that,” West High coach Keeley Arnold said. “That (fifth) game she did a great job of stepping up and being a leader on the court that we need.”

Waterloo West (1-6) ended the opening set on a 9-0 run to close out a 25-13 win.

West High responded with a 25-16 win in the second and a 25-15 win in the third as Austen had three kills in each set after not recording a kill in the opening-set loss.

“We were just off,” Austen said of the opening set. “We were playing on a new court, it’s big in here, it’s nerve wracking but after the first set we knew it was under our belt and we just had to drop it and move on.”

Waterloo West scored four of the final five points in the fourth set to force a fifth with a 25-23 win.

The WaHawks scored the first two points of the fifth set on a Jada Smith kill and solo block.

It was all West High the rest of the way.

“We just stayed calm and positive and had a strong mindset,” Lacy said. “We didn’t rush it we just took each point at a time.”

A Waterloo West hitting error and a Lacy ace serve tied the fifth set at 2-2.

Austen had two kills, Lacy had a back row kill and senior Helen Penning and junior Gianna Liu each added kills during the 13-0 West High run.

“We just really got nitty gritty,” Austen said. “We went for every ball and we did the little things. The little things add up to big things so when we do the little things in the fifth set we get on a 10-point run.”

Lacy finished with 12 kills, five ace serves and a block while Austen had 12 kills, two ace serves and two blocks.

Senior Emma Stammeyer had eight kills and Penning and Liu each had three for the Trojans.

“I think after the first set we just came out with more aggression,” Lacy said. “Playing on a new court, it’s a bigger space it felt a little different. It was new so I felt like after the first set we just wanted to swing and play aggressive. We wanted to make mistakes on being aggression rather than just being soft and sloppy.”

Waterloo West          25  16  15  25   5

West High                  13  25  25  23  15

West High (Kills-Aces-Blocks)

Elle Barnett 0-1-0, Ava Bruxvoort 1-0-0, Lucy Schmid 1-2-0, Sophia Austen 12-2-2, Melae’ Lacy 12-5-1, Jocelyn Jacobsen 2-0-2, Emma Stammeyer 8-1-1, Gianna Liu 3-0-0, Helen Penning 3-0-1, Totals 42-11-7.

Assists – Emma Stammeyer 22, Elle Barnett 10

Waterloo West (Kills-Aces-Blocks)

Ava Jones 6-0-0, Samantha Elliott 5-0-1, Danica Wrage 16-0-0, Peyton Stefancik 4-0-0, Allyson Landers 2-0-0, Jada Smith 15-4-1, Totals 48-4-2.

Assists – Allyson Landers 35, Samantha Elliott 3

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