Iowa City West volleyball is alive, awake and dangerous

IOWA CITY — Sophia Austen “wouldn’t have believed it.”

Lila Eastvold? “I would have laughed.”

Laughed at what?

At the prospect of you telling the freshman version of themselves that Iowa City West volleyball would come so far, so fast.

Twenty-seven wins? A Mississippi Valley Conference championship? A state-tournament berth?

Nobody’s laughing now.

“Everyone is so excited. We’re on Cloud 9,” said Austen, a junior and an Iowa State University commit. “Everything works out for a reason. It makes moments like this so special.”

Holdovers from that 2023 team (it went 9-25), Austen and Eastvold stuck with it and improved. A stream of transfers moved in.

The final piece — perhaps the most important one — was the hiring of a vibrant 24-year-old coach.

“First thing I wanted to do, I wanted to bring back the culture,” Coach Jaedynn Evans said. “Volleyball has always been a legacy sport at West.”

Had been, at least.

From 1991 through 2016, West qualified for 12 state tournaments. One of the greatest (and most bittersweet) stories in Iowa high school athletics history was the story of the 2011 Trojans, who rallied after the death of setter Caroline Found to win the second of back-to-back championships.

After 2016, though, crickets. From 2018 through 2024, the Trojans endured seven consecutive losing seasons.

“We didn’t have a lot of club players,” Eastvold said. “We had a lot of issues.”

Along came some transfers.

Sophomore libero Izzie McDonald moved in from Cedar Rapids Xavier, which had advanced to nine consecutive state tournaments: “The academics, the school, it’s all good here,” she said.

Another sophomore, Taylor Otte came from Williamsburg. Then there was the arrival of freshmen Cyan Blommer and Josephine Austen (Sophia’s younger sister).

Still, there was that matter of a coaching vacancy.

“I had a job offer at a college before I interviewed (at West), and I was going to take it,” Evans said. “I was ready to text (athletics director) B.J. Mayer and tell him I was going to take the college job.

“People told me, ‘Jaedynn, you’re 24. You need to go interview (at West).’”

The college job still had the inside track until, according to Evans: “The morning after my interview at West, they said, ‘What if we can get you a teaching job?”

Sold. Say hello to a first-year PE/health teacher.

“Jaedynn brings so much energy,” Austen said. “She’s such a competitive person, pushing us to be our best version of ourselves. She expects us to be good teammates and good people.”

Eastvold added, “She makes sure she doesn’t treat you like a friend. Her feedback is very good, very specific.”

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Regional-final night was an emotional one for Evans. First, her team won. So did Mid-Prairie, which is co-coached by her parents (Sherry and Zeb), with two younger sisters (Jovi and Joergia) playing prominent roles.

Evans played at the University of Central Oklahoma from 2021 through 2023, and she was a two-time NCAA Division-II all-American. The concluded her career at Wisconsin-Whitewater in 2024.

So there’s not much difference in age between her and her team.

“I think we have a good balance,” Evans said. “The biggest thing, I wanted their trust and respect. I set some boundaries.

“I told them, ‘I’m not your friend. I’m your coach, your authority. I’m a pretty quiet person. But when I step on the court, I’m very loud and confident in my skills and my knowledge.”

The Trojans take a 27-5 record and a No. 8 ranking into their first-round match with No. 2 Ankeny Centennial (32-5).

First serve is 12:25 Monday afternoon at Xtream Arena, Coralville.

The vast majority of the West roster will be back for 2026, but they don’t intend to wait to make a splash.

“We want to play our best volleyball and leave with no regrets,” Eastvold said.

Back in August, the Trojans discussed goals. They’ve achieved just about everything they set out to do.

“We’ve checked off a couple of boxes,” Evans said. “Conference champions, regional champions.

“The last box is still up to be determined.”

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com