WINNEMUCCA - Even though the Lowry High School varsity volleyball team suffered two losses this past weekend, the team is showing improvement on the floor.
The Lady Bucks (3-13 overall, 0-4 Division I-A) had the task of playing two state tournament teams from a year ago. Lowry hosted South Tahoe on Friday, Sept. 14, with the Vikings winning 25-21, 22-25, 25-16 and 25-15. Lowry was back in action on the road on Saturday, and was defeated 26-24, 20-25, 25-14 and 25-18 by the Greenwave.
"We played pretty well in the beginning of both matches but just hit a wall after that." said LHS head coach Bob Rice. "I think we are capable of beating both teams. We are starting to play better as a team, which is nice to see. We just have to put an entire match together and we will be OK."
On Saturday, the Churchill County volleyball team gradually wore down Lowry over the course of four sets. The Greenwave found itself facing a tenacious Lady Bucks' team in the first two sets, but the Greenwave took command in the final two games.
The Churchill County serving game, as well as its play up front, enabled the Greenwave to dispatch the Lady Bucks in the third set.
The Greenwave never trailed jumping out to a quick 5-1 lead, due in part to Samantha Heck's three service points, including an ace, and two forced Lowry errors.
The score remained tight for a short span as Lowry narrowed the lead to two points, 8-6, as the Lady Bucks' Juliana Velasco and Kylee McClelland each tallied a pair of points from the serving line.
Churchill County, though, received some heads-up play from Christina Dowd in the middle as she had a soft return that caught Lowry off-guard.
The Greenwave began to pull away as Cady Cordes and Tyrie Nunes controlled the middle with some well-placed returns, and Mackenzie Dahl notched a pair of kills.
Heck's serving gave Churchill County more momentum as she recorded four more serving points. Sustained serving proved to be the key for Churchill County down the stretch as Mary Scholz had four points as Fallon took a 23-13 lead. A Lowry error pushed Churchill County to 24-14 before Shelby Lawry ended the match with an ace for the Greenwave.
Lowry kept pace with Churchill County during the first half of the fourth set. After Churchill County jumped out to a 3-1 lead, Lowry tied the game at 3-3 and grabbed a two-point lead, 6-4, on two points from Jessica Jensen.
The Lady Greenwave tied the set for the third and final time before pulling away on a 10-4 run. Ali Tedford took her turn serving and accounted for three points. Dowd also had some sustained serving with four points.
Churchill County's sustained serving by Kelsey Reibsamen put away Lowry. Her accuracy from the serving line gave Churchill County a 21-10 lead.
Both teams began the day's match with a spirited first set. The set was tied five times, but Churchill County broke away on a 5-1 run. Scholz accounted for three service points, while Lowry had difficulty adjusting to Churchill County's front line until the latter stages of the set.
Dowd's kill gave Churchill County a 22-17 lead before the Lady Bucks chipped away at the lead on three Greenwave errors. Lowry tied the match 24-24 on Ere Higbee's serve, but Cordes' tap over the net from her middle blocker position broke the tie, and Nunes hard return was too hot for Lowry to handle, thus giving Churchill County the win.
The second game saw the score tied eight times in the see-saw battle. Both teams played hard, but the key for each squad was too many errors, specifically returns that sailed past the line or returns shots slammed into the net.
The final tie was 17-17, and Lowry pulled away with an 8-3 run to win the set. Allison Barron gave Lowry three points from the line, but it was the Greenwave players' inability to communicate that led to three late points for the Lady Bucks in the win.
Lowry sealed the win when Churchill County couldn't return the ball within three hits.
"We had our chances to win the first game and let it slip away from us," Rice said. "We had them confused and frustrated in the second game. We got to the third game and could not keep any momentum."
Lowry hosts Sparks tonight at 6 p.m.
Steve Ranson of the Lahontan Valley News contributed to this story.
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