West gets pieces in place

CEDAR RAPIDS - First-year Iowa City West volleyball coach Randy Dolson did some tinkering with his lineup early in the season as he got acclimated to his squad.

Dolson tried playing Laynie Whitehead at a setter position but quickly returned the 6-foot-1 senior to hitter and inserted sophomore Madi Fay at setter.

Consider it trial and success.

Whitehead led the Women of Troy with 10 kills and 16 digs and Fay added 36 assists Tuesday night as West won the final three games to oust Cedar Rapids Kennedy, 19-25, 25-12, 25-15, 25-23, in a Mississippi Valley Conference Valley Division match at Kennedy High School.

'The first game we just didn't have our defense quite figured out,” Whitehead said. 'After that, we really started getting into our offense and getting in a system and we all started getting some nice kills.”

After dropping the first game, 25-19, a Whitehead ace capped a 17-3 West hammer to close a 25-12 win in game two. In the third game, West strung together six straight early points and kept the Cougars at bay, 25-15.

'You have to have a very scrappy defense to keep that going,” Whitehead said. 'Just especially with their great setter Anna Fluent, who will dump all the time, and some big hitters. You just have to keep the ball from them and keep the ball in play for our offense.”

Emily Halverson blocked four kill attempts, and senior Mikaela Morgan broke a 23-23 tie in the fourth game with two match-clinching kills for West (10-6, 3-1 MVC).

'We had a great team effort I thought,” said Dolson, who assumed the reigns after the retirement of two-time state champion coach Kathy Bresnahan. 'Kids came off the bench and picked us up when we needed to. I told them if this wasn't a team victory, nothing was.”

Sophomore Paige Franck led all players with 12 kills for Kennedy (10-7, 2-2 MVC). Fellow sophomore Emma Boote left the match midway through the first game with an apparent right ankle sprain.

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