Prep volleyball: Aggressive serving pushes Bearcats past Warriors

One of the points of emphasis for the W.F. West High School volleyball team has been serving. Far too often did its serving lineup struggle with missed serves into the net or long.

“One of our focuses was to get our serve tougher and in play,” Bearcats head coach Tiffany Alvarado said. “If you’re serving tough everytime, I’ll take the misses.”

Through one match, those issues might be in the rear view mirror.

Senior Grace Simpson set the tone with four first set aces and W.F. West followed with 23 team aces in its 25-17, 15-25, 25-15, 25-22 victory over Rochester on Thursday night in the season-opener for both teams at W.F. West High School.

It was a consistent attack put on by the Bearcats (1-0), finding openings in the Warriors’ serve receive. Libero Ashley Mueller recorded three of her four aces in the fourth set while Addie Froschauer notched four.

Marley and Emma McGreal each chipped in three aces for W.F. West.

“We’ve been working really well together and have good chemistry now that we’ve been playing for a couple of years,” Simpson said. “I was really proud of our teamwork.”

Simpson’s run of serving in the opening set turned a one-point lead into six. The Bearcats closed with six of the final seven points to snare a 1-0 lead.

After Rochester used a 9-0 spree to claim the second set, W.F. West was staring at lost momentum inside a warm gymnasium.

“If they want to win it, they’re going to have to come together as a team and do everything we’ve been practicing,” Alvarado said. “Communication, coverage and put the ball in play. That’s what they did.”

It scored the first three points, then went on a 5-0 run that featured two solo blocks from Simpson. The

Warriors got to within five early, but never got closer to go down 2-1.

“We obviously have things to work on; I am happy with that game even though we did not come out on top,” Rochester first-year head coach Courtney Baird said.

Serve receive has bitten Rochester, now in the Class 1A Evergreen League, in the past and during practices. Those issues arose once again in a glaring way.

“It is just something we haven’t been able to figure out,” Baird said. “We’ll be focusing on that a lot next week. A few of those games would have been closer if our serve receive hadn’t struggled so much.”

W.F. West seemed to be in control of the fourth set, turning a 13-12 deficit into a 21-14 advantage. Addison Adams slammed home back-to-back kills to give it match point.

Rochester didn’t wilt.

Lexi Dupont, Mckenna Vassar times two cut the margin to 24-22. The Bearcats called a timeout to “regroup.”

“Realize they didn’t need to be down on themselves,” Alvarado added.

In an anti-climatic ending, miscommunication between the Warriors gave W.F. West the triumph. Jaden Jensen dished out seven assists and Paige Duncan had four. Simpson paced a balanced front-row attack with three kills.

“We’re going to keep trying different rotations,” Simpson said. “Seeing who works well together before we get to our league games.”

Dupont rose up for two solo blocks to give the Warriors the set two win. Vassar led them with seven kills, Dupont added five kills and Leah Hartley registered three. Libero Cheyenne Justice fueled the back row with seven digs.

“Once they got rolling, we kept pushing,” Baird said.

W.F. West has struggled to piece together victories in recent seasons. Led by a four-person senior core, the Bearcats view it as a turnaround-type season.

“We want to leave a good legacy,” Simpson said.