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DURANT, Iowa – Makenzie Meyer didn’t expect it to come this easy.

Just more than a month ago, the Durant-Bennett volleyball team had to sweat out a four-game marathon against Iowa City Regina that featured a 31-29 game and a pair of 25-20 decisions.

In Thursday night’s Cedar Valley Conference tournament title contest, the 11th-ranked Wildcats breezed past the Regals 25-10, 25-20, 25-11 to capture their fifth consecutive league championship.

“We were kind of shocked it ended up like it did,” said Meyer, whose team never trailed at any point in the three games. “We were definitely clicking tonight.”

Led by Meyer’s aggressive serving and Durant’s steady net play, the Wildcats (32-5) scored 16 of the first 20 points in the match.

“We came out of the blocks on fire, especially at the net,” Durant coach John Walsh said. “That, by far, was our best blocking match of the season. I think that frustrated them a little bit.”

Durant finished with a season-high 12 blocks in the match, including four each from Meyer and setter Allison Ralfs.

“Blocking has been a little bit of a concern this season,” Walsh said. “We weren’t that tough at the net most of the season like we were tonight. We were worked on that in practice this week.

“If we can stay consistent like that and be aggressive at the net, we’re going to give some teams trouble in the postseason.”

Durant stormed out to an 11-2 advantage in the second game. However, Regina (20-7) had a response.

The Regals pulled within one at 14-13 before the Wildcats opened up a 19-14 lead. Regina came back again with six of the next seven points to tie it at 20.

“In both timeouts we called there, we talked about passing,” Walsh said. “Our passing just fell apart. We focused on getting our passing back. Being such an experienced team like this, we’ve done that quite a bit this season. When the game gets tough, we keep our focus.”

In particular, Renee Telsrow rose to the occasion. The senior, who had a match-high 17 kills, had three in a short span to help Durant close out the second game, 25-20.

“I just want to help the team, and getting kills is a great way,” Telsrow said. “We were clicking tonight. The passing was there, the setting was there and the hits were falling. It was a lot of fun.”

Regina hung close early in the third game, but Durant used an 11-4 surge midway through to close out the match.

“We were moving sluggish tonight,” Regina coach Robin Akers said. “We’ve got quite a list of things we need to do (before the tournament starts).”

In addition to Telsrow’s 17 kills, seniors Shelby Paustian and Meyer each had nine. Ralfs had 38 assists.

“We did a good job of spreading the hits around tonight,” Walsh said.

Emily Andry and Paustian led the defense with 11 digs, while Mackenzie Compton had 10.

Durant opens Class 2A regional play Tuesday night at home against Tipton.

“It’s huge to win the conference,” Telsrow said. “We need to start out with a big bang, and this is definitely a great match to lead us into regional play.”

Durant 25-25-25

Iowa City Regina 10-20-11

Durant statistics

Kills – Renee Telsrow 17, Shelby Paustian 9, Makenzie Meyer 9. Blocks – Allison Ralfs 4, Meyer 4, Stevie Lorenz 2, Telsrow 2. Assists – Ralfs 38. Digs – Emily Andry 11, Paustian 11, Mackenzie Compton 10, Annie Miller 6. Serving – Meyer 20-23, 3 aces; Ralfs 9-10, ace; Andry 9-9.

Record – Durant 32-5, 10-0 CVC; Regina 20-7, 8-2.

Next up – Durant opens regional play at home against Tipton at 7 p.m. Tuesday.