WB hopes to keep improving at regionals
by Gregory R. Norfleet · Sports · October 19, 2017
West Branch’s volleyball team entered regional play Oct. 17 after a week of ups and downs in the conference tournament, yet the coach sees improvement in overall performance.
The Bears fell to Camanche, West Liberty and Monticello but beat Mid-Prairie over two days in the River Valley Conference Tournament.
Head Coach John Walsh said that the second round of the tournament, when the Bears faced Mid-Prairie and won in two sets, the team played better overall.
“We’re heading in the right direction at the right time of year,” he said.
He said hitting efficiency improved, and has been “much better than the rest of the season.”
“We passed the ball pretty well to get the ball to our hitters and they took advantage of that,” Walsh said.
The Bears played Mid-Prairie four weeks earlier and beat them then as well. However, the Oct. 12 match-up ended with a somewhat larger scoring gap over the Golden Hawks.
Walsh said it goes back to that hitting efficiency. A month ago, the team made more errors.
“If your hitting efficiency is over .300, that’s awesome, and our hitting efficiency in the conference tournament was .276, so we’re just taking care of the ball better and taking smarter swings,” the coach said.
The win pitted West Branch next against Monticello, which is fifth in the River Valley Conference. Walsh said West Branch did better against the Panthers this second time.
“They handled us pretty well (at the Lisbon tournament) but we gave them a better game (last week),” he said, though “timely mistakes” gave Monticello the momentum to win.
He considers that improvement encouraging.
“We’re looking forward to keeping that and turning that into the right direction into regionals,” he said.
The Bears travel to Highland for the opening round of the regional tournament. West Branch enters with a 9-22 overall record; the Huskies come in with a 10-14 record. Despite falling into different conferences, both teams played Mid-Prairie and both beat the Golden Hawks by very similar scores.
Walsh said he saw the Huskies perform at a tournament earlier in the season and thought they played “very well.”
“If they get into a good run, they can certainly be difficult to handle,” he said.
West Branch plans to set the tone early, Walsh said, play at their pace and bring an aggressive offense.
“And hopefully keep them from getting some sort of momentum to start the match,” he said.
Walsh said West Branch’s seven extra games are not as not meaningful as the quality of their opponents. But he said the Bears have played some tough opponents recently, like a recent tournament filled with 4A and 5A schools. There, West Branch took down Southeast Polk, a 4A school.
“Having that competition and getting in battles with bigger programs fares better for us as we head into the post-season,” Walsh said.
Tuesday’s winner will advance to play Regina on Monday.
West Branch lost Oct. 10 to Camanche, 2-0, with scores of 19-21, 16-21.
West Branch stats: Abbey Fryauf 6 kills, 2 digs, 4 aces; Mackenzie Heise 3 kills, 1 dig; Courtney Jarrett 5 digs; Kaiya Luneckas 3 kills, 3 digs, 2 aces; Sophie Nopoulos 3 kills, 1 dig; Drew Perkins 1 kill, 1 dig; Riley Vaughan 1 kill, 3 digs, 1 ace; McKenna Walsh 1 kill, 2 digs.
Camanche stats: Marly Bussa 5 digs, 2 aces; Camaryn Carstensen 2 digs; Haley Duran 2 blocks; Hannah Nissen 2 kills, 9 assists, 1 dig, 1 block; Madi Parson 8 kills, 1 assist, 4 digs, 3 aces; Sami Puckett 4 kills, 7 assists, 3 digs, 1 block, 2 aces; Paige Waltz 1 dig, 2 aces; Tarah Whede 4 kills.
West Branch lost Oct. 10 to West Liberty, 2-0, with scores 15-21, 10-21.
West Branch stats: Abbey Fryauf 6 kills, 7 digs; Mackenzie Heise 1 kill; Courtney Jarrett 4 digs; Kaiya Luneckas 4 kills, 4 digs, 1 block; Sophie Nopoulos 6 assists, 1 dig, 2 aces; Drew Perkins 1 kill; Riley Vaughan 7 assists, 3 digs; McKenna Walsh 1 kill.
West Liberty stats: Macy Akers 1 assist, 15 digs, 3 aces; Averi Goodale 1 kill; Emma Martin 5 digs; Brianna Morales 7 kills, 2 blocks, 1 ace; Maya Morales 3 digs; Hallie Mueller 2 kills, 1 dig, 4 aces; Martha Pace 3 kills, 4 digs, 2 aces; Morgan Peterson 1 kill, 14 assists, 1 dig; Breana Thurness 1 kill.
West Branch beat Mid-Prairie on Oct. 12, 2-0, with scores 21-18, 21-12.
West Branch stats: Abbey Fryauf 9 kills, 6 digs, 2 blocks, 1 ace; Mackenzie Heise 3 kills, 1 dig, 1 block; Courtney Jarrett 2 assists, 6 digs; Kaiya Luneckas 1 kill, 5 digs, 1 block, 1 ace; Sophie Nopoulos 7 kills, 9 assists, 5 digs, 1 ace; Drew Perkins 2 kills; Riley Vaughan 13 assists, 5 digs; McKenna Walsh 3 kills; Hannah Westcott 2 digs, 2 aces.
Mid-Prairie stats: Maya Hall 1 kill, 7 digs, 2 aces; Cassidy Hershberger 1 kill, 3 digs; Karson Jehle 1 dig; Myah Lugar 1 dig; Abbi Patterson 4 digs; Caitlyn Riggan 8 assists, 3 dig; Anna Vilochik 9 digs, 1 ace; Alison Yoder 7 digs.
West Branch lost to Monticello on Oct. 12, 2-0, with scores 11-21, 14-21.
West Branch stats: Abbey Fryauf 2 kills, 3 digs, 1 block; Mackenzie Heise 2 kills, 1 block; Courtney Jarrett 6 digs; Allyson Kroemer 1 dig; Kaiya Luneckas 1 kill, 1 block; Sophie Nopoulos 4 kills, 4 assists, 4 digs, 1 block; Drew Perkins 2 digs; Riley Vaughan 5 assists; McKenna Walsh 1 block; Hannah Westcott 1 ace.
Monticello stats: Caitlyn Cruise 2 digs; Corrine Gadient 1 kill, 4 digs, 2 aces; Jaelynn Kraus 2 kills, 2 digs; Savannah Kremer 1 kill, 2 assists, 5 digs, 2 aces; Jordan Kuper 12 kills, 1 dig, 1 block; Madison Lambert 2 kills, 18 assists, 3 digs, 1 block; Rileigh Lambert 1 kill, 1 dig; Macy McDonough 2 digs; Lauren Ries 3 kills, 1 assist, 4 digs, 1 block, 1 ace.
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