The West Liberty High School Volleyball team continued their perfect season this week, dominating River Valley Conference foe Mid-Prairie on the road Thursday before sweeping their way through the Williamsburg
tournament Saturday.
The Comets of Coach Ruben Galvan improved to 15-0 on the season following the week of action and find themselves eighth overall in the most recent IGHSAU rankings.
Among highlights of the week, Comet junior Monica Morales worked her way to 1,000 prep career digs. “Morales has been our libero since her freshman year and she brings a lot of experience to that position," coach Galvan said after she put together 43 digs in the latest tournament and set the mark with 20 against Mid-Prairie.
The coach said being unbeaten wasn’t one of the team goals, but noted every match has its different challenges. He said “getting better is our season goal,” and the girls continue to improve, not giving up a single set loss this season, let alone a match after winning three straight tournaments.
Galvan said the tournament gave the team an opportunity to play some different players and he said he couldn’t have been more pleased with how they performed as well.
“The team really plays well together and players have each others back,” Galvan said. “Its has been the biggest satisfaction this season how our team has come together.”
Mid-Prairie RVC win
The week started with a trip to Mid-Prairie to face the Golden Hawks. Sitting at 5-4 on the season, the hosts aimed to test the unbeaten Comets in their pursuit of an RVC title.
The Comets fell behind early in the first set 3-1 before a seven-point run added some security to their lead before forcing a Mid-Prairie timeout, leading 10-4. The Comets came together to score eight more unanswered points before winning the first set 25-13. The Comets carried on into the second set, 25-16 victors. The third set was never in question as the Comets jumped ahead early and found themselves leading 18-7 before a Golden Hawks timeout. Mid-Prairie used their final timeout as the Comets led 24-11, the game ending shortly after.
Senior Macy Daufeldt smashed 29 kills for the Comets along with 12 digs. Freshman Sophie Buysse led the Comet defense with 21 digs while junior Monica Morales followed closely behind with 20 to set herself over the 1000 mark for her career.
Brooklyn Buysse continued to be the centerpiece for the Comet offense as she recorded 35 assists, hel;ping improve their conference mark to 2-0 for the season.
Williamsburg Tourney champs
The Comets started their Saturday slate with a matchup against Centerville. The Big Reds put up little resistance to the Comet onslaught, as West Liberty took both sets in dominate fashion, 25-6 and 25-8.
The Comets were near perfect from the service line, going 43/44 on attempts, led by Morales who was 18/18 with three aces. Morales also recorded a team high 10 digs in the contest to help guide the Comets.
Mylie Henderson led the Comet attack with seven kills in the contest while Brooklyn Buysse recorded 10 assists. Maelyn Wainright added a pair of blocks for the Comets in their first-round match.
Their second-round game came against Grand View Christian. The Thunder fought valiantly but were unable to stifle the Comet attack. The Comets cruised in the second round, taking 25-10 and 25-13 victories enroute to an eventual matchup with Williamsburg.
Morales was dominate from the service line, going 12/13 with four aces, and on defense recording 14 digs. Daufeldt recorded 12 kills in the contest and Brookyln Buysse notched 19 more assists.
The Comets matched up against hosts Williamsburg in the championship game. Having already faced the Raiders once this season, the Comets looked to get the better of their foes again.
West Liberty cruised in the opening set, running away 25-4 victors. The Raiders tightened up in the second set, but the Comets emerged victorious once again, winning 25-16.
Monica Morales once again achieved perfection from the service line, going 14/14 with four aces in the championship match and recording 18 digs. Daufeldt had 13 kills and a block for the Comets and Brookyln Buysse cooked up 21 assists en route to the Comets third tournament title of the season.
To host two games
The Comets will return to conference play Thursday against Camanche and Tuesday against neighboring West Branch. Both games are on the Comet court and begin at 7:15 p.m. and will be preceded by JV play at 6 p.m. A large Comet contingent is expected.
Galvan said his team needs to be ready to play. “Any time you face conference teams it can be challenging for us,” he said. “We must be ready to play regardless who we play.”