WATERLOO - Iowa City High is off and running to start the 2009 volleyball season as the Little Hawks swept Waterloo West, 25-15, 25-10, 25-11, in Mississippi Valley Conference action Tuesday night.

The Little Hawks pulled away from the Wahawks in game one with a 13-0 run after the hosts built an early 6-4 advantage.

Game two did not go well for the Wahawks, as they surrendered 7-0 and 9-0 spurts to their guests, after having the early edge with a 5-1 lead.

"You just can't give up those big five-six-seven point runs and expect to win in this conference," Wahawks coach Dave Hirsch said. "We did not pass very well tonight and never got our front row involved in the game.

"We have a great front row anchored by one of the best middles in the conference with Abby Coselman," Hirsch added. "We have a great nucleus here. A great group of athletes. We just need to iron out our passing problem number one, then start playing together as a team."

Coselman led the Wahawks with six kills and four blocks and feels she has the remedy for the early season setback.

"We just didn't have the intensity tonight," the senior middle hitter said. "We need to come out a little fired up and not let ourselves get down. We have the athletes we need here. We just need to learn how to pick each other up."

Senior Liz Frank gave the Wahawks a little pick-me-up with a three-point service run in the second game, followed by a diving save by libero Rachael Swisher, who had 11 digs for the match.

The Little Hawks regained their control and put a 9-0 run together, squelching any hopes for a Wahawk rally.

"We really didn't know what to expect coming up here tonight," Little Hawks coach Craig Pitcher said. "Last year West came down to our place and took us to five games.

"We accomplished a lot of the things we wanted to do tonight," Pitcher added. "Our younger kids can lose track of their assignments pretty easy, so we focused on communication first. When we got that going, we identified other things such as passing and got into our system right away. Our kids did a great job tonight."