Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The math for the back-to-back cross-town rivalry matches for West High looks something like this.

Six days+10 sets = two enormous victories.

Class 5A ninth-ranked West High picked up its second consecutive five-set win over a cross-town on Tuesday outlasting eighth-ranked Liberty High 18-25, 25-17, 25-23, 18-25, 25-11 in a Mississippi Valley Conference Mississippi Division contest at West High.

The win completed the cross-town sweep for West High which won a five-setter over City High last Thursday at City High.

“It’s definitely been an emotional roller coaster,” West High junior Sophia Austen said. “Especially when both go to five sets and are both intense and close the whole time but it’s just so much fun at the end of the day winning these two matches.”

West High (18-4) got contributions from everyone in its lineup on Tuesday while snapping a six-match losing skid to Liberty High with its first win over the Lightning since 2018.

Austin and sophomore Taylor Otte each had 14 kills while freshman Cyan Blommer added 11 kills.

Sophomore Audrey Small had six kills and five blocks and freshman Josephine Austen had five kills.

“In a really big match with a team as good as Liberty we really needed everyone,” first-year West High head coach Jaedynn Evans said. “If we only have a few options we become very one dimensional and that isn’t setting yourself up for success so being able to utilize everyone keeps the blockers off balance.”

Just as it did in its match at City High last week West High found itself in an early deficit on Tuesday.

West High led 14-12 in the opening set before Liberty High (17-7) scored 10 of the next 12 points on its way to a 25-18 win in the opening set.

Following the opening-set loss West High leaned on its experience from last week when it rallied out of a two-set hole in its win at City High.

“I definitely think the chaos of the City match helped us stay calm under pressure tonight,” Otte said. “We stayed calm through everything.”

West High trailed 12-8 early in the second set but went on an 8-0 run to take a 16-12 lead.

Josephine Austen had a pair of kills during the 8-0 burst and Wet High followed with another 6-0 run to take a 22-13 lead it would never give up.

“I definitely think last week prepared us for tonight,” Evans said. “Playing in front of a huge crowd last week, helped us and the student section showing up for us tonight helped us and we pulled off that energy.”

West High scored the final five points of the third set to erase a 23-20 deficit and take a two sets to none lead.

Liberty High answered.

Ellie Wilson had three of her nine kills during an impressive 25-18 win by the Lightning in the fourth set.

The fifth set was down to the wire

Liberty High scored four consecutive points on a pair of Clare Gordon kills and a Ashlyn Nordell block to take a 11-10 lead.

West High had the final response in the form of a 5-0 run that secured the win.

“This is only our third fifth-set game but that fifth set is typically where we really turn it up,” Evans said. “That showed both last week and tonight.”

Sophia Austen had four of her match-high 14 kills in the fifth set including three during the match-clinching 5-0 run.

“I think last week we knew that was not our best volleyball that we played,” Sophia Austen said. “We really wanted to reprove ourselves today and show that we could play better.”

Sydney Van Heukelom matched Wilson with nine kills for Liberty High while Nordell had six kills and three blocks.

Ava Meidlinger had seven kills for the Lightning.

Liberty High             25  17  23  25  11

West High                  18  25  25  18  15

Liberty High (Kills-aces-blocks)

Maya Sojka 0-4-0, Edie Miller 0-3-0, Hadley Miller 4-3-0, Ashlyn Nordell 6-0-3, Ellie Wilson 9-2-0, Clare Gordon 4-1-0, Ava Meidlinger 7-0-2, Sydney Van Heukelom 9-0-2, Jessica Steburg 3-0-0, Totals 42-13-7.

Assists – Hadley Miller 32, Edie Miller 3, Maya Sojka 1

West High (Kills-aces-blocks)

Cyan Blommer 11-1-0, Izzie McDonald 0-0-0, Lila Eastvold 1-0-0, Taylor Otte 14-0-1, Audrey Small 6-0-5, Sophia Austen 14-4-3, Josephine Austen 5-0-1, Totals 51-6-10.

Assists – Lila Eastvold 47, Izzie McDonald 2

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