Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

WEST LIBERTY – Solon had defending 3A runner-up West Liberty on the ropes several times in the 3A, Region 7 title game on Tuesday.

Each time West Liberty did what good teams do.

It battled back.

Fifth-ranked West Liberty rallied from an opening set loss and held off a furious Solon rally in the fourth set to earn a 15-25, 25-19, 25-19, 28-26 win over the Spartans in a top-10 regional final showdown in West Liberty.

“We knew coming into this game that it wasn’t going to be easy and we had to put in the work,” first-year Solon head coach Mikayla Siddell said. “We tried our best to be aggressive in all aspects of the game and I thought our girls played super hard. I couldn’t be more proud of their effort.”

Last year’s 3A runner-up, West Liberty returns to the state tournament for the second year in a row and third time in four seasons

West Liberty (31-7) will face fourth-ranked Sioux Center (30-3) in a 3A state quarterfinal on Tuesday at Noon at Xtream Arena in Coralville.

This trip to state for the Comets comes after the graduation of elite all-stater Macy Daufeldt.

“I think that was a motivation for them because I think everyone in the state counted us out,” West Liberty head coach Ruben Galvan said. “Our kids were in here all summer long and I knew there were some good things happening because they spent a lot of time in here.”

On the road against a top-five ranked defending state runner-up it was Solon that came our firing on all cylinders.

The Spartans used a 4-0 burst fueled by an Aly Stahle kill to take an early 7-4 lead in the opening set and would never trail again.

A 5-0 Solon burst pushed the Spartan lead to 13-7 and West Liberty would get no closer than three points the rest of the opening set.

“We came out really nervous and serving really soft I would rather miss a few serves here and there but be aggressive,” Galvan said. “When you let Solon get comfortable you are going to be in trouble.”

Seniors Delaney Bombei and Sophia Hoeper each had three kills during the opening set win while Stahly and Grace Erwin each had two.

Solon had three ace serves and three ace blocks in a 25-15 win in the opening set.

“I honestly think that we just didn’t play safe, we swung at everything, we were serving aggressive and we were moving our feet and never let a ball drop,” Siddell said. “That’s the best that I have seen us play all year and I’m just happy that they played that this game.”

West Liberty responded.

The Comets took control of the second set with a 6-0 run and used a 6-2 burst to turn a 13-11 lead into a 19-13 margin on its way to a 25-19 win that even the match at one set apiece.

It was more of the same in the third set as Wet Liberty overcame an early 9-8 deficit with a 4-0 run and used a 7-0 run to build a 20-12 advantage in another 25-19 win.

“I think that was the difference is our serving came on,” Galvan said. “We had some tough missed serves but you play with fire you are going to get burned every once in a while and we know we have to keep people out of system with the serve or we are in trouble.”

The Comets appeared to put the match away with a 6-0 run that pushed the lead to 21-16 in the third set but Solon had a rally left.

Solon cut the lead to 24-22 and facing match point rattled off three consecutive points to take a 25-24 lead.

The Spartans twice had set point in the fourth but kills by Maelyn Wainwright and Sophie Buysse pulled West Liberty even.

West Liberty took the lead for good at 27-26 on an ace block by junior Rilee Han, just the third ace block of the match for the Comets.

“Towards the end the last block we had, that was a turning point,” Galvan said.

Senior setter Brooklyn Buysse secured the win with an ace serve on the next point.

“We saw some game jitters,” Siddell said. “Once we started to make a couple of mistakes we started to get into our heads a little bit and I think the jitters kind of got to them.”

Bombei was brilliant for Solon finishing with 11 kills, five ace serves and an ace block while Erwin had eight kills and Stahle seven for the Spartans.

Sophia Buysse had 11 kills and Ava Morrison eight for West Liberty.

After back-to-back 17-win seasons Solon finished 26-13 in its first year under Siddell.

“It’s a real testament to our seniors,” Siddell said. “They trusted in me and they definitely rebuilt this culture for us and I think they lead this team to where we are today.”

West Liberty             15  25  25  28

Solon                          25  19  19  26

West Liberty (Kills-aces-blocks)

Gaby Morales 0-1-0, Rylee Goodale 0-1-0, Sophie Buysse 11-0-1, McKinzie Akers 0-4-0, Ava Morrison 8-0-0, Brooklyn Buysse 4-3-0, Rilee Han 5-0-1, Maelyn Wainwright 5-0-0, Laney Esmoil 1-0-1, Totals 34-9-3.

Assists – Brooklyn Buysse 22

Solon (Kills-aces-blocks)

Kylee Flyn 0-1-0, Delaney Bombei 11-5-1, Sophia Hoeper 3-0-1, Brynn Deike 1-2-2, Aly Stahle 7-1-0, Grace Erwin 8-0-3, Yasmine Sell 5-0-3, Totals 35-9-10.

Assists – Brynn Deike 24, Kylee Flynn 3

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