Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The Spike will stay at City High but the rematch belonged to West High.

West High avenged a regular season sweep at the hands of its cross-town rival earlier this month with a thrilling 23-25, 25-22, 26-24, 27-25 win over City High (7-11) in a Class 5A, Region 7 opener on Tuesday at City High.

The win continued an impressive late-season surge for West High (13-14) which will play at fifth-ranked Liberty High (20-2) in the Region 7 semifinals on Thursday at 7 p.m.

“I feel like we are finally meeting our full potential,” West High senior Rylie Baldes said. “We were off for three weeks, we lost our head coach, there were a lot of ups and downs but I feel like we finally got it figured out.”

An unconventional season for West High included a mid-season coaching change as Keeley Arnold took over when Scott Sanders landed a job and a three-week layoff when the Iowa City schools opened the year on-line.

Through it all the Trojans are playing their best when it matters the most.

West High has won four of its last five matches, a stretch that includes five-set upset of eighth-ranked Dubuque Hempstead in the regular season finale.

“I was really worried at the beginning of the season, I didn’t know if I would even be able to play or have a senior season,” West High senior McKenna Proud said. “Winning first round regionals is proving that we can do this. We are such a young team and I’m really, really proud of us.”

West High showed just how far it has come on Tuesday.

Less than three weeks after dropping a 25-18, 26-24, 25-22 decision to City High at home the Trojans overcame a loss in the opening set to snap a five-match losing skid to the Little Hawks.

“We are definitely a different team now than we were the first time we played,” Proud said. “We are a lot louder, we talk a lot more and we are covering a lot better. Our defense is strong.”

Perhaps no player represented the late-season resurgence for West High better than Baldes.

The senior entered the postseason with 44 kills and had two in the October 1 loss to City High.

Baldes hammered a match-high 17 kills on Tuesday joining freshman Melae’ Lacy who had 11 kills in double figures.

“After you get one kill you feel like you can do anything,” Baldes said. “The longer the match went on the more confident I got.”

West High followed the lead of Baldes.

City High ended the first set on a 3-0 run, the final two points coming on ace serves from senior Maya Morales, on its way to a 25-23 win.

The rest of the way it was West High that made the big plays late.

“I don’t know why but we seem to do better towards the end of matches,” Baldes said. “It takes us a little while to get going but once we do we are pretty good.”

West High trailed by as many as six in the second set and was down 18-15 before using a 7-0 run to take its first lead of the set.

The Trojans evened the match with a 25-22 win, clinching the set on a kill by freshman setter Emma Stammeyer.

“It’s just our drive, we are wanting it so bad that we are succeeding,” Stammeyer said. “It’s all about drive and just pushing each other.”

It was more of the same in the third set.

City High led 19-13 and held a 24-21 lead after back-to-back Claire Ernst kills.

West High responded with a 5-0 run to win the set, a stretch that featured a kill by  Carmen Crabtree, a Katherine Kouba ace and a Baldes kill.

“I really think that they just like to watch me sweat,” Arnold said. “They just get down a little bit in the beginning and then they decide to turn it on.”

City High again led for much of the fourth set before more late West High heroics.

The Little Hawks had set point twice in the final set but West High scored the final three points to complete the win.

“Our passing tonight was pretty solid but we were just a hair off,” City High coach Tricia Carty said. “Something just wasn’t quite fully connecting all the way and it was just that half a second difference in some of our timing that just didn’t allow us to execute with a lot of confidence down the stretch.”

Baldes pulled West High even at 25 and Proud gave the Trojans the lead with a serve that hit the cord and tumbled over for an ace.

“I thought Keeley was going to make me run 1,000 sprints,” Proud said of the serve. “I was really, really scared but I was glad it went over.”

Baldes ended the match with a cross-court kill on the following points.

“At the beginning of the year there was so much uncertainty and after we were able to come back we made a couple of switches and the girls they all have each other’s backs and they are playing cohesively as a team,” Arnold said. “Energy and mentality and mental toughness. Just all of those things our girls have been amazing with.”

Proud had seven kills for West High while Mayowa had four kills and four ace blocks and Crabtree and Stammeyer each had four kills.

Ruby McDonough led City High with 11 kills while Alia Vanderhoef had 10 kills and Joslyn Becker and Ernst each had six.

Makayla Ribble had three kills, three aces and four ace blocks for City High.

“We battled and we competed and our kids worked really hard,” Carty said. “I am so proud of after everything that has happened this year but West was able to be a little more aggressive than us at the very end.”

West High                  23  25  26  27

City High                   25  22  24  25

City High  (Kills-aces-blocks)

Maya Morales 1-4-0, Joslyn Becker 6-0-1, Morgan Turner 0-2-0, Alia Vanderhoef 10-0-2, Makayla Ribble 3-3-4, Sara Cassady 4-0-0, Ruby McDonough 11-0-0, Claire Ernst 6-1-0, Team 41-10-7.

Assists – Makayla Ribble 28, Maya Morales 1

West High (Kills-aces-blocks)

Emma Stammeyer 4-0-1, Rylie Baldes 17-0-0, Katherine Kouba 1-1-0, Kearsten Lenth 0-1-0, Melae’ Lacy 11-0-1, Mayowa Dokun 4-0-4, Carmen Crabtree 4-0-2, McKenna Proud 7-2-0, Team 48-4-8.

Assists – Emma Stammeyer 33

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