Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – As a senior setter Nora Wilhelm must fill a variety of different roles for ninth-ranked Regina.

In addition to directing the Regal attack Wilhelm is the leader of a Regina team that features a pair of underclassmen as well as first-year player Lyla Chandler as its top three hitters.

For Wilhelm the most important task as senior setter, especially as the pressure mounts in the postseason, is keeping every one calm.

“My sophomore year I was so nervous in these games and I’ve been able to learn and grow from all these experiences and now I’m trying to stay calm and help everyone else who might be a little nervous,” Wilhelm said. “I’m just always focused on staying calm and I think that helps everyone else stay calm.”

Wilhelm performed all of her numerous duties seamlessly in a Class 2A, Region 8 semifinal win over West Burlington on Monday.

Four different Regals had at least nine kills on Monday and Wilhelm had 57 assists and four kills as Regina advanced to the Region 8 title game with a 25-16, 20-25, 25-12, 25-15 win over the Falcons in Iowa City.

Lyla Chandler had a team-high 24 kills and sophomore Jada Wiltz added 22 as Regina (28-15) defeated West Burlington (28-10) in the regional semifinals for the second consecutive season.

“She just holds herself to a higher standard and she walks on the court with such confidence that she calms everyone down with that confidence,” Chandler said of Wilhelm. “She is so trusting in her hitters, she is going to set the person twice in a row even if they make a mistake the first time and I think that’s really calming for us hitters.”

Regina will face seventh-ranked Denver (25-14) in the Region 8 title game on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Center Point-Urbana high school.

The defending 2A state champion, Denver swept Jesup in the regional semifinals on Monday.

“Throughout our season (Regina coach) Lauren (Hansen) has been able to put us in great positions to play really good teams, 4A and 5A teams, so we’ve been able to practice being in these high-pressure situations,” Wilhelm said. “That has prepared us for these 2A games.”

Regina never trailed in a 25-16 win in the opening set.

The Regals broke open a tight game early with a 5-0 burst that featured three kills from Wiltz and ended with a Wilhelm kill.

Regina quickly realized West Burlington wouldn’t go quietly.

The Falcons got six kills from junior Kaylee Webb in the second set on their way to a 25-20 win that evened the match at one set apiece.

Webb, who entered ranked second in 2A with 537 kills, finished with a match-high 25 kills.

Regina quickly refocused in the third.

“We kind of got comfortable with how we were playing and we needed to realized they weren’t going to roll over and give it to us,” Chandler said. “Our pep talk with our coach really helped and we knew we had to play for each other.”

Regina used a 9-0 run to turn a 7-5 lead into a 16-5 advantage and never let West Burlington get closer than eight points the rest of the set.

“I think we let them control the second set rather than us controlling it so it was us just getting back into who we were,” Hansen said. “They run a slow pin offense and a fast middle offense so we were not adjusting well to that and once we did that we were fine.”

Regina snapped a 5-5 tie in the third set with a 11-0 run that featured three kills from Wiltz and two from senior middle Adalee Klein.

Freshman Lexi Gaffey had 10 kills and Klein added nine as Regina finished with a 69-38 edge in total kills.

“We have very strong hitters all across the net,” Chandler said. “One night it’s Jada that’s hot the next it’s Lexi sometimes it’s me and I think all of us work really well together and Nora knows who was hot, where to put it and tonight we all blended really well together.”

West Burlington        16  25  12  15

Regina                        25  20  25  25

Regina (Kills-aces-blocks)

Kylie Mattoon 0-2-0, Lexi Gaffey 10-2-0, Adalee Klein 9-0-0, Jada Wiltz 22-0-0, Lyla Chandler 24-0-1, Nora Wilhelm 4-0-0, Leah Sickels 0-0-2, Totals 69-4-3.

Assists – Nora Wilhelm 57, Addison Bollier 2, Kylie Mattoon 1

West Burlington (Kills-aces-blocks)

Lydia Armstrong 0-3-0, Brenna Shafer 3-0-0, Emersyn Hopkins 0-1-1, Emma Burke 6-0-0, Kaylee Webb 25-0-1, Kiana O’Brien 0-1-0, Avery Jeffries 4-0-0, Totals 38-5-2.

Assists – Emersyn Hopkins 36

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