West Branch shakes off first-set loss to down Regina in regional quarterfinals

WEST BRANCH - West Branch's tall front line did what Regina thought it would do, but after the first set, the Regals were unable to stop it.

The fourth-ranked Bears defeated the Regals, 24-26, 25-15, 25-14, 25-18, in a Class 2A Region 8 quarterfinal Tuesday night and will advance to play Highland in Friday's semifinal in West Branch.

Regina (18-16) rallied from two five-point deficits in the first set with sparkling defense spearheaded by libero Mackenzie Conlon.

'I think the first set we were a little rusty. We hadn't played in a while, and they were playing great defense. It was hard to put anything away,” West Branch hitter Bailey Lukavsky said.

'They did a great job of digging balls that first set,” West Branch Coach Josh Lukavsky said. 'I thought some balls were going to be down, and they dug them up and they turned them into offense, too.”

But the Regals were flat in the second set, trailing early 6-0 and 11-1.

They seemed to lose confidence with the big deficits as the Bears (33-5) rallied.

'I don't think we were worried. We just knew we didn't play very well and we had to pick it up,” West Branch's Allyson Simpson said.

We knew they were going to be a good team and they'd be better than the last time we played them.”

'We passed the ball a lot better for sure in that second set,” Coach Lukavsky said. 'We got into our offense better.”

Regina never led in the third set. The fourth was closer throughout, but the Bears pulled away.

Simpson, Haley Poula, Lukavsky, Trystin Luneckas and Abby Knoop did a nice job putting away their chances.

'We just did not execute,” Regina Coach Kara Kimm said. 'We came in with a game plan. We knew what we had to do. We had to pinpoint certain hitters. They hit exactly where we practiced all week. We had to be on point the whole entire time, and we just weren't after that first game.”

Coach Lukavsky said afterward that Poula earned her 1,000th career kill during the match.