Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

CORALVILLE – A memorable season for West High ended one win shy of the state title match.

It took an impressive performance from the state’s top-ranked team to stop the Trojans.

Defending state champion Waukee Northwest had five players with six or more kills and hit .359 as a team advancing to a fourth consecutive state title match with a 25-19, 25-15, 25-18 win over fifth-ranked West High on Wednesday in a Class 5A semifinal at Xtream Arena in Coralville.

“If we are going to lose it best be to the best,” West High coach Jaedynn Evans said. “And as of right now, they are the best.”

The Wolves certainly looked like the best team in the state on Wednesday.

Waukee Northwest (31-2) used a match-high 14 kills from Leah Janulewicz and 12 kills from Piper Ladwig to post its fifth consecutive state tournament sweep.

The Wolves haven’t dropped a set at state since a loss to Pleasant Valley in the 2024 state title match.

“Today was great,” Waukee Northwest coach Jodi Vogt said. “We knew that Iowa City West was going to be a tough match, they have some great hitters on their team and I think our girls showed up well and we were able to shut down their outside hitter early and I think that was a key to our success.”

West High hung with Waukee for most of each of the three sets.

The opening set was even at 11.

The second was tied 13-13 and West High was even in the third set as late as 16-16.

In all three sets it was Waukee Northwest that surged late.

“They are a great team so the little things really add up,” West High senior Sophia Austen said. “We were with them and then a couple of little mistakes would happen and it would just slowly slip away.”

Iowa State recruit Logan Vogt had nine kills and Avery Cordes and Cassidy Danburg each had six kills for Waukee Northwest which finished with a 49-32 edge in total kills.

The Wolves had 16 blocks, four each from Cordes and Ladwig and three each from Lydia Burrell and Danburg.

“They can hit you from any angle,” West High sophomore Cyan Blommer said. “They are just a very good, well-round and very well-coached team.”

Blommer had a team-high 13 kills for West High while Austen had 10 kills and junior Taylor Otte added six.

Lila Eastvold had 25 assists and 10 digs and Austen added 10 digs for the Trojans.

The loss capped a second straight impressive season for West High which recorded its first state tournament win since 2011 on Monday in its second consecutive state tournament appearance.

West High had gone seven seasons without a winning record prior to last year’s state title run.

The Trojans have gone 56-13 over the previous two seasons with back-to-back state tournament appearances.

“It has been amazing,” Austen said. “When Lila (Eastvold) and I came in we had no expectations and Jaedynn has been a huge part of it, but we were really able to rewrite what the standard is at West.”

Waukee Northwest               25  25  25

West High                              19  15  18

Waukee Northwest (Kills-aces-blocks)

Leah Janulewicz 14-1-0, London Taylor 0-0-0, Avery Cordes 6-1-4, Lydia Burrell 2-0-3, Logan Vogt 9-3-2, Cassidy Danburg 6-0-3, Piper Ladwig 12-0-4, Lyla Nelson 0-0-0, Kennedy Jackson 0-1-0, Totals 49-6-16.

Assists – Kennedy Jackson 19, Lyla Nelson 10, Leah Janulewicz 5, London Taylor 5, Cassidy Danburg 2, Logan Vogt 2

West High (Kills-aces-blocks)

Cyan Blommer 13-1-0, Izzie McDonald 0-0-0, Lila Eastvold 0-1-0, Olivia Headings 0-0-2, Sophia Austen 10-2-1, Josephine Austen 3-0-1, Taylor Otte 6-1-1, Totals 32-5-5.

Assists – Lila Eastvold 25, Izzie McDonald 4, Josephine Austen 1

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