One day Lisbon volleyball will get that monkey off its back.

But for now, the never-making-state thing sometimes feels like King Kong.

Lisbon lost to No. 14 West Burlington on Monday, Oct. 28, 25-21, 26-24, 19-25, 25-21, in a Class 2A regional semifinal in West Burlington.

It was an evenly played match, but the Falcons just did everything a tiny bit better.

“Two evenly matched teams,” Lisbon coach Lance Kamaus said. “They outscored us by four points that night.”

Lisbon (31-8) fell behind in the first set 11-5. They led 11-9 in the second set, but West Burlington (376) went on a 12-2 run.

After the Lions claimed the third set, the Falcons just pulled away in the fourth.

The Falcons are known as a defensive team, and had 96 digs (24 per set). But Lisbon had 94 digs (23.5 per set).

“There were some really long points,” Kamaus said. “There was one point, I thought we had four kills, but we ended up getting sided out. Mykala (Luzum-Selmon) had two rockets. Alexa (Roos) had two go-go’s.

“It was a fun volleyball match to be a part of. That’s the way it is. Class 2A is tough.”

West Burlington ended up losing in the regional f inal two days later to No. 3 Dyersville Beckman (356) in Solon.

“They would have given us problems,” Kamaus said of Beckman. “They have so much height.”

Luzum-Selmon, a junior, led the attack against the Falcons with 24 kills. Junior Kamryn Kahl added 16 kills and senior Sarah Dietsch had 12.

Senior setter Kaitlynn Hasselbusch had 54 assists and led the defense with 23 digs.

Luzum-Selmon had 22 digs. The 31 wins ranks as the fourth-most in program history (38 in 2022 is the best). Kamaus said he felt pretty good considering many had the Lions rebuilding this fall.

“To lose quality players like we did off last year’s team, and the way things started, and the questions,” Kamaus said. “To end up with a 15-match win streak. To win the conference. To win the conference tournament. … In my opinion, it is not healthy to judge the season on the final result.”