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Bears oppress Falcons for regional win
by Matthew Dickinson, sports editor · Sports · October 23, 2024
The West Branch volleyball team’s 3-0 Class 2A regional first round win over Louisa-Muscatine Monday night at home had a strong sense of deja vu.
A season ago, the Bears opened their regional final run at home with a dominating 3-0 sweep over the Falcons. Louisa-Muscatine did not even crack double digits in two of the sets in the matchup.
This season, the Falcons did score 10 or more points in two sets, but had a high of 17 in a relatively painless victory for the Bears.
“Our serving, we were getting a lot of aces,” Bears Co-Head Coach Becky Hosier said. “And then, we were running different hits that we’ve been working on in practice. Just changing it up a little, and that seemed to work too.”
Bears Co-Head Coach Monica Tylee added that it was “definitely a good hitting night to get us going for Wednesday.”
A kill each by Kennedy Simpson and Briley Kaalberg helped start the West Branch scoring in the first set, but Louisa-Muscatine held a 5-2 edge. A Dani Crutchley kill and another Kaalberg kill sliced the deficit to 5-4 before the Bears tied the set at five.
After falling behind 7-6, West Branch took a 9-6 lead on an ace block by Ava Burnett followed by a kill each from Alyssa Vargason and Alyssa Pierce. After the Falcons answered with a point, Pierce had another kill to make it 10-8. Louisa-Muscatine managed a 14-12 edge moments later, forcing a West Branch timeout.
After the break, the Bears worked their way back into the set to take a 16-14 edge capped off by a Simpson ace and a Crutchley kill. Crutchley would then deliver another kill two points later. West Branch started to pull away, with a Pierce kill and an ace by Crutchley that hit the net and fell into Falcons territory providing the finishing touches on a run that saw a 22-16 lead from the Bears and forced a Louisa-Muscatine timeout.
After the reset, Burnett came through with a heads-up kill at the net while a Simpson kill two points later brought up a set point at 24-17. Lyla Popkes then delivered an ace on the following point, giving the Bears a 1-0 lead.
Louisa-Muscatine came through with another hot start, with a Pierce kill snapping a 3-0 run by the visitors. The Falcons continued to keep in the set, but senior Jordan Waters delivered an ace to cut the deficit to 6-5 moments later. After allowing a point, the Bears answered with four straight including a Vargason kill, Burnett ace block, and Pierce kill as West Branch took a 9-7 lead into a timeout by Louisa-Muscatine.
The teams traded points before a Kaalberg kill and Simpson ace helped West Branch establish a 17-10 edge at another timeout by the Falcons. After the break, a Kaalberg kill and some errors by Louisa-Muscatgine helped the Bears maintain a 23-14 edge that became a set point after a Vargason kill a point later. Waters then had an ace, giving the Bears the set 25-14 and a 2-0 stranglehold on the match.
With one set separating West Branch from advancing, the Bears turned their game up a notch. Kaalberg had a kill and ace block for the team’s first two points, while a Vargason kill and Kaalberg kill stretched the lead to 4-1. After a point from the visitors, a Crutchley kill forced a Falcons timeout at 6-2.
Vargason answered with a kill out of the break before a MadeLynn Falco ace. Moments later, a Burnett kill and Crutchley ace stretched the advantage to 11-3. Following a few Louisa-Muscatine points, the Bears answered with a Vargason kill, Pierce kill, and two straight aces by Popkes to stretch the lead to 10. West Branch continued to be on a roll, with Simpson delivering two straight kills to force a Falcons timeout with the visitors trailing 17-5. After the break, yet another Popkes ace pushed the lead to 13. The visitors answered with a point, but West Branch quickly worked a match point in a stretch that included a Kaalberg kill and Waters ace. The Bears would win the set 25-6 and the match 3-0, cementing the relatively painless sweep to improve to 6-24 while the Falcons wrapped with a 3-18 mark.
A balanced scoring effort secured the win. Vargason was the only Bear to have double-digit kills with 10. Simpson (eight), Kaalberg (seven), Crutchley (six), and Pierce (six) each had five or more kills out of West Branch’s 39.
“That’s going to be a good motivator for our girls heading into Wednesday night, knowing that we’re going to be playing a little harder team with an actual block,” Hosier said. “Again at practice tomorrow, we’re probably going to work on a couple different lineups so that we can change up our hitters and work on different hits because of the blocks that are going to be going on Wednesday.”
The Bears also had strong serving, connecting on 89.2 percent of their 74 serves with 13 aces. Popkes and Waters led the way with four aces each, while Falco and Crutchley each had two aces. Simpson added an ace as well.
Of Popkes, Hosier said that her status as one of the team’s strongest servers has been an energizer for the team when she gets going. Tylee said that the servers across the board did a good job of serving multiple times when bringing the ball to the service line, avoiding the “one-and-done” serves that prevent momentum from building.
The playoff matchup allowed experienced upperclassmen like Falco and Crutchley to shine while also giving new rotational players such as Kaalberg, Pierce, Burnett, and Addi Finley a match to adjust to the regional atmosphere and the pressures that come with it. Hosier said that Falco served as a “cheerleader” on the court and sidelines, which helped keep spirits up among the team as the Bears adjusted to playing in a single-elimination setting.
West Branch will hope history repeats itself again on Wednesday as the Bears travel to rival Regina in a regional quarterfinal matchup. First serve is set for 7 p.m in Iowa City. Last season, the Bears upset the Regals in a thrilling 3-2 matchup to keep their season alive.
This season, Regina carries a 21-14 overall record and won its lone matchup with West Branch 3-0 on Sept. 19. The key for another upset victory will be getting standout Regina junior Reese Naeve out of rhythm. Naeve, who has already committed to Iowa State University for volleyball, leads the entire state in kills with 644, good for about 66 percent of the Regals’ total kills on the year. She has added 14 blocks and 297 digs defensively while serving 239-256 with 33 aces. Should the Bears advance, they would face the winner of North Mahaska and Pekin Oct. 28 back in Regina.
Hosier said that West Branch will “key on” Naeve no matter where she is at while adjusting the team’s defense based on where the Regina junior is positioned on the court.
1 2 3 T
L-M 17 14 6 0
WB 25 25 25 3
West Branch offense: Lyla Popkes 12 assists; Kennedy Simpson 17 assists, 8 kills; Ava Burnett 3 assists, 2 kills; MadeLynn Falco 3 assists; Briley Kaalberg 7 kills; Alyssa Vargason 10 kills; Dani Crutchley 6 kills; Alyssa Pierce 6 kills. Team totals: 35 assists, 39 kills.
West Branch defense: Lyla Popkes 4 digs; Kennedy Simpson 11 digs; Ava Burnett 2 blocks, 2 digs; Jordan Waters 1 dig; MadeLynn Falco 19 digs; Addi Finley 6 digs; Briley Kaalberg 1 block; Alyssa Vargason 2 digs; Dani Crutchley 15 digs; Alyssa Pierce 1 block, 5 digs. Team totals: 4 blocks, 65 digs.
West Branch serving: Lyla Popkes 9-10, 4 aces; Kennedy Simpson 13-15, 1 ace; Ava Burnett 2-2; Jordan Waters 10-11, 4 aces; MadeLynn Falco 12-14, 2 aces; Addi Finley 6-7; Dani Crutchley 14-15, 2 aces. Team totals: 66-74, 13 aces.
Louisa-Muscatine offense n/a
Louisa-Muscatine defensen /a
Louisa-Muscatine serving n/a
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