West Branch earns first state-tourney triumph

CEDAR RAPIDS — In terms of state-tournament victories, the West Branch Bears are on the board.

Bailey Lukavsky and Haley Poula swatted 21 kills apiece, and the fourth-ranked Bears got stronger as the match got longer, defeating No. 5 Wapsie Valley in four sets (23-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-19) in a Class 2A quarterfinal at the state volleyball tournament Wednesday afternoon at the U.S. Cellular Center.

'Confidence was the big thing,' Poula said. 'The first set, the errors were piling up and our serving wasn't the strongest. We just needed to control our side of the net.'

West Branch (36-5) cleared the first-round hurdle for the first time in three tries — the Bears were ousted in the quarterfinals in 2012 and 2014 — and gets a shot at No. 1 Western Christian (41-5) in the semifinals at 4 p.m. Thursday.

Western is a state-tournament fixture and making its 15th consecutive semifinal appearance, but the Bears aren't conceding.

'They're going to put pressure on us. We have to believe we can do it,' Poula said. 'It should be a good match.'

Lukavsky said, 'If we play our game, we'll be fine. We're a well-balanced team. So are they.'

The Bears coughed up a 15-8 lead in the first set, and watched a 23-19 advantage evaporate in the second. But at 23-all, the Bears got a kill, then an attack error from Wapsie Valley (31-5), to snag the set.

It got easier from there.

West Branch emerged from an 18-18 tie in the pivotal third game, scoring four straight points.

Then, in Game 4, they broke to an 11-4 lead and were never threatened.

The Bears credited their conditioning program for their late-match success.

'We always seem to struggle in the first game,' Lukavsky said. 'Then we seem to loosen up and get it all out of our heads.'

West Branch finished with a 59-38 advantage in kills. Both teams had 25 attack errors.

Haley Weepie had 12 kills for Wapsie Valley. Trystin Luneckas dished out 52 assists for the Bears.

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