Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – It was only fitting that in her final home match the final two swings for Melae’ Lacy resulted in kills.

Perhaps even more appropriate was Lacy leading her team in fills in her final match at West High.

Lacy hammered 11 kills including the two match-clinchers to lift West High (9-24) to a 25-10, 25-22, 25-18 win over Waterloo East (10-25) in a Class 5A, Region 2 quarterfinal on Tuesday at West High.

“It feels really good to leave my last home game as a win,” Lacy said. “It feels really good.”

A starter since her freshman season Lacy is on her way to leading the Trojans in kills for the fourth consecutive season.

Lacy has already secured a fourth straight season of at least 200 kills this fall and pushed her career kill total to 963 with her 11 kills on Tuesday.

“She has been the cornerstone for the last four years,” West High coach Keeley Arnold said. “It’s actually really sad to think about the fact I am not going to coach her any more. She is someone that we could always rely on.”

Lacy has been a difference maker on the court for West High the past four seasons.

In addition to her nearly 1,000 kills the 5-foot-11 Lacy has amassed 525 digs, nearly 100 ace serves (94) and 100 blocks in her career.

As impressive as the career stat sheet is for Lacy that’s never been what she wanted as her lasting legacy at West High.

“I feel like a lot of the time it’s been about me (the past few years) and I want to make it about somebody else since I am leaving,” Lacy said. “I want to be a leader, I want to be someone that makes other players feel like they are important and they are good.  I want to inspire someone else to be that leader for the coming years.”

In her final game at West High Lacy was a leader both in the stat sheet and on the court.

Lacy had four kills in a 25-10 West High win in the opening set.

She had five of her match-high 11 kills in the second set as West High snapped a 21-all tie by scoring four of the final five points in a 25-22 win.

“I’ve never been the person that says we have to win or that wins and losses are all that matter,” Lacy said. “I’ve said lets get better as a team, let’s trust each other, let’s have fun. I feel like this was my chance to make it fun. The wins and losses will come but as long as our team is growing and having fun with each other that’s all I cared about.”

When West High saw its lead in the third set shrink to 23-28 after a three-point Waterloo East run it was Lacy that got the call.

The senior responded with back-to-back kills to close out the match and extend her high school career.

West High will travel to second-ranked Ankeny Centennial (28-6) on Thursday at 7 p.m.

“I didn’t really have my mind on this being my last home game, I was just thinking about this is what we have to do today to prep ups for Thursday,” Lacy said. “I’m glad it was a win and I’m excited for Thursday.”

The win came a year after West High opened postseason play with a four-set win at Waterloo East last season.

On Tuesday West High had four players with at least three kills led by Lacy as they advanced to the regional semifinals.

Sophie Bodin had four kills and freshman Sophia Austen and Ava Bruxvoort each had three kills for the Trojans.

“It’s kind of two-fold too, because we had Waterloo East first round last year too so to get to play them at home and to do better than we did last year I know Melae’ felt really good about it,” Arnold said. “She put down the kills we were hoping for.”

Waterloo East           10  22  18  

West High                  25  25  25

West High (Kills-aces-blocks)

Elle Barnett 2-1-0, Ava Bruxvoort 3-0-0, Lucy Schmid 0-1-0, Sophia Austen 3-0-2, Melae’ Lacy 11-1-0, Jocelyn Jacobsen 2-1-1, Sophie Bodin 4-0-0, Emma Stammeyer 2-0-0, Helen Penning 1-0-0, Totals 28-4-3.

Assists – Elle Barnett 7, Emma Stammeyer 7, Sophia Austen 1, Lucy Schmid 1

Waterloo East (Kills-aces-blocks)

Savanah Payton 3-0-0, Miah Norman 4-0-0, Niyah Arceneaux 0-1-0, Jaelah Stanford 1-0-0, Ja’Miah Ceaser 3-0-0, Hayden Bruess 1-1-0, Malloree Nichols 3-1-0, Danica Chamberlain 6-2-0, Totals 21-5-0.

Assists – Danica Chamberlain 5, Miah Norman 5, Savanah Payton 2

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