WINNEMUCCA - The last time the Lowry High School varsity volleyball team hosted the Sparks Railroaders, the Lady Buckaroos were shocked as they both lost the match in five sets in the addition to any playoff hopes.
There would be no upset this time around, as Lowry took out its frustrations from a year ago on Sparks. The Lady Bucks held the Railroaders to nine points or less in every set in the 25-8, 25-9 and 25-7 victory.
"Our goal coming in was to keep them at 10 points and we held Sparks under that," said LHS head coach Megan Allen. "A lot of girls got a lot of playing time tonight. We kept our level of play high and the girls were ready to go. We have to have the mentality of putting a team away quickly when we have the chance. The girls had the motivation after losing to Sparks last year."
Lowry (2-1 Division I-A North, 8-9 overall) raced out to a 4-0 lead in the first set off kills by Juliana Velasco, Sierra Thiede and Jillian Albright.
A kill down the line by Rachel Sigurdson increased the advantage to 11-3. Sigurdson added two aces later in the set, giving the Lady Bucks an 18-4 lead.
Velasco added a kill and tip late in the first set to give Lowry the win.
The Lady Bucks scored eight of the first nine points in the second set, picking up contributions from a number of players. Ere Higbee had a tip and an ace and Lowry had kills from Allison Barron, Charlotte Bernard and Velasco in that stretch.
The Lady Bucks were never challenged in the set, with Auri Criddle giving Lowry a 20-6 lead after an ace. Sparks closed the gap to 12 points, at 21-9, when the Lady Bucks scored the final four points of the set, which included a kill by Velasco and an ace by Barron.
It was much of the same in the third set, with Lowry scoring nine of the first 10 points. Sparks did not score a point on its own serve until the 17-5 mark in the set.
Velasco closed out the match for the Lady Bucks with an ace and kill.
Velasco led Lowry with 11 kills and two blocks, Sigurdson added five kills and Peyton Naveran and Albright had three each. Darion Iturriaga and Bernard each had two kills.
Iturriaga added 14 digs, Barron had six digs and Carly Bell finished with three digs.
Lowry hosted Dayton on Friday, Sept. 13, with the Dust Devils prevailing 25-13, 25-12 and 25-19.
"Dayton is a tough team and we had a hard time getting going," Allen said.
Velasco had six kills and six blocks for Lowry, Criddle added three kills and Naveran two. Iturriaga finished with 26 digs, Albright had 17, Higbee nine and Sigurdson seven digs.
The Lady Bucks hit the road this past Saturday in Fernley and were able to come back and beat the Vaqueros in five sets, 25-19, 28-30, 21-25, 25-14 and 15-11.
"Getting a win is huge for us," Allen said. "The girls played so well. The most important thing was the girls played consistent throughout. They didn't dwell on things if something went wrong. The girls came back and did something good."
Velasco collected a double-double with 14 kills and 14 blocks, while Thiede added 10 kills and two blocks. Sigurdson added nine kills and Montero and Criddle had five and four kills, respectively.
Montero, Criddle and Sigurdson each had two blocks and Iturriaga had 17 digs.
Lowry travels to Truckee tonight for a 6 p.m. match with the Wolverines.
"We are looking forward to playing Truckee," Allen said. "It should be a good test to see where we are at in the league."
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