Thursday was an evening at the beach for the West Prairie High School volleyball squad.
With the student section in its best beach wear attire for its “Beach Party” theme, the Cyclone volleyballers had their fun on the court, posting a 25-5, 25-14 Prairieland Conference South Division victory over visiting Bushnell-Prairie City.
West Prairie upped its record to 11-11 overall, 2-1 in Prairieland play, while B-PC dropped to 0-11 overall, 0-2 in league action.
The mix of homecoming week at West Prairie and playing a neighboring rival added to the level of enthusiasm of the Cyclones student section Thursday.
“They love playing here and they feed off the energy from the crowd,” said West Prairie coach Drew Snyder of his team. “The students were excellent and the players really fed off of that well.”
“I couldn’t hear my girls talking, so I’m sure they couldn’t hear each other,” said B-PC coach Chloe Hickle. “So we tried to tell them when the crowd is this loud against you, you have to be louder. You have to literally scream.”
Tied 3-3 in the opening set, an Alyvia Barkley kill started a six point West Prairie run.
Macy Branch followed with five straight service points, including two aces, in giving the home team a 9-3 lead.
Alyvia Barkley then went to work at the service line, recording seven straight points. It included two service aces, along with kills from Niah Zimmerman and older sister Alexa Barkley that allowed the lead to balloon to 17-4.
After an exchange of sideouts, Alexa Barkley served out the set with the final seven points, including three service aces.
West Prairie never trailed in set two as senior Madelynn Sullivan started with four straight points, including two aces. Jaycee Reynoso also added a kill.
At 11-6, Branch served up six straight putting the Cyclones in complete control.
The Cyclones used a balanced hitting attack with Alyvia Barkley finishing with five kills, while Alexa Barkley and Sullivan added four kills each.
Also hurting B-PC’s cause was the absence of senior middle Caroline Spangler, who according to Hickle is also one of the team leaders on the floor.
“With their hits, we have to get a touch on the block,” said Hickle. “They’re hard swingers.”
“We got a few touches and slowed them down,” she added. “But that was our big thing.”
Branch tallied 11 service points with three service aces, while Alyvia Barkley added eight points with two aces.
Sullivan chipped in seven points with two aces, while Alexa Barkley added six points with three aces.
Sullivan also recorded 14 set assists and three digs, while Alyvia Barkley, and Abby Starbuck als had three digs apiece.
Alexa Barkley also tallied two blocks. “We’ve been very competitive all year,” said Snyder. “The last five matches, we’ve gone three (sets). It was nice to get a resounding win.”
Thursday’s win gave the program one more victory than it achieved last season when the Cyclones finished 10-20.
“We’re making some improvements,” said Snyder. “We are in a lot of really close games. We’re very competitive. We’ve just got to keep working in practice to refine those things so that way we can get over the hump against some of those really good teams.”
“We’re about ready to enter the hardest part of our schedule,” he added. “But it’s going to get us ready for the end.”
Meanwhile the work also continues for Hickle, who is in her first season as head coach at B-PC and the Lady Spartans.
“We’re not getting blown out of the water completely anymore,” said Hickle. “We’re doing better overall I think.”
