Few things in athletics are better than when a gameplan works to perfection.
The Macomb High varsity volleyball squad was on-point Wednesday night at The Hangar against neighboring rival West Prairie.
Looking to clinch another Prairieland Conference South Division, the Bombers delivered with an emphatic 25-9, 25-13 win over the rival Cyclones in front of a large crowd.
Macomb moved to 16-11 overall, finishing 5-0 in South Division play.
West Prairie slipped to 19-14 overall, 2-2 in division play. “West Prairie brings out the best in us,” said MHS coach Hillary Humes. “They’re a close rival.”
“We wanted to beat West Prairie,” she added. “We knew it would be a big game with it being Pink Night. They just had that competitive fire from the start.”
“We were ready to play,” said MHS senior Jordan Hines. A Niah Zimmerman kill opened the match for the Cyclones, but the Bombers soon took flight, scoring eight of the next 10 points in building an 8-3 lead.
A three-point service run by Reagan Knowles and a sixpoint service run later by Jersee Mills allowed the Bombers to run away with the set.
“We’ve been struggling throughout the season. We haven’t had a good, solid game all-around all 25 points,” said MHS senior Sophie Wilson. “(This match), I think we put all the pieces of the puzzle together.”
“It was a good game to do it because we had a lot of people and a lot of things to show out for,” she added. “I’m proud of how we played.”
West Prairie’s only lead in set two came at 4-3. A Cadence Hotz kill, followed by an Emily Westerhold three-point service run gave the Bombers the lead for good.
“This season has had our ups and downs with putting our foot on the (gas) pedal,” said Hines. “But we have been working well (together) and our energy has been good which helps us get through all 25 points.”
“They were very good,” said West Prairie coach Drew Snyder of Macomb. “They’re a well-coached team. They know our weaknesses and they exploited them very well.”
“I told the girls before the game pretty much exactly what (Macomb) was going to do,” he added. “They executed their game plan very well. They were just better than us. That’s for sure.”
“They served at our non-libero passers,” said Snyder. “I thought they would serve at the underclassmen and they did. We were out of system quite a bit.”
“They were able to set up their defense around what they knew we were going to do,” he added. “We got blocked or dug quite a bit. That was a struggle for us.”
“We knew who to serve to to put some pressure on them,” said Humes. “(Senior Alexa) Barkley in the middle is their big offensive gun. We knew if we could get them off on pass that they couldn’t set her as much. We could get a block set up on their pins (outside hitters) and get them a little bit more predictable.”
“We executed every single thing we said we wanted to execute,” said Humes. “There wasn’t one part of the game that we didn’t do what we had worked on.”
“I’m so proud of them for digging in and even mentally just staying in it, just letting their training speak for itself,” she added.
Hotz chalked up six kills and six blocks for Macomb, while Hines added five kills, two blocks, six digs and one service ace.
Mills had three kills, six digs and nine service points that included one service ace.
Westerhold chipped in six service points that included three aces, along with three digs.
Jordyn Shoopman tallied 10 digs, while Wilson chipped in three kills, 12 digs and 15 set assists.
“I was confident with every set,” said Wilson. “I knew my hitters were going to put it where they were supposed to.”
“We’ve really been working in spreading the offense around,” said Humes.
The Bombers still have seven matches remaining that started with Thursday’s home contest against Elmwood.
“Any momentum right now is great,” said Wilson. “It really helps.”
“This is one step to postseason,” she added. “This is a little thing and we’re looking at a regional title. It’s one more step to get there.”
“We need to keep our same energy and keep our heads up high and I think we’ll be fine in the postseason,” added Hines.
The Bombers will also be hosting a Class 2A Regional. “The more success they find in this gym, it just adds that mental aspect,” said Humes.
Meanwhile, West Prairie headed to Carthage Thursday to face Illini West. The Cyclones wrap up the regular season Monday against Rushville-Industry at Rushville.
“We know we can play better than that,” said Snyder. “And when you don’t perform up to your own expectations, it can be very frustrating.”
“We’ve got a lot of opportunities to get better before the postseason,” he added. “I have confidence in our players and their work ethic. I’m very hopeful that as we move forward we will start to make some of these corrections.”
