From the start of the season everything seemed lined up for the Lowry High School volleyball team to make a return trip to the state championships for the first time since 2006.
The Lady Bucks featured a squad of just two seniors, making its way through the schedule with victory after victory. Lowry also had the advantage of hosting the regional championship in front of its home crowd this past Saturday.
However, the dream season for the Lady Bucks came to an end in the semifinals as Truckee, the No. 3 seed, pulled off the upset winning 20-25, 25-22, 25-20 and 25-19. Lowry finished the season at 27-4, the second-most wins in school history. The 2005 state championship squad notched a 33-7 record.
"It is definitely a sad way to end the season for us," said LHS head coach Megan Allen. "I feel bad for our seniors (Auri Criddle and Meg Montero), they have been great leaders. It is another good growing experience for us. We are a very young team and have a lot of talent coming back. It sucks right now, but we will be OK."
All four sets were back-and-forth as both squads had trouble pulling away. Lowry used three straight point to tie the first set at 4-4, with two of those coming off a tip by Ashlee Barron and a kill by Jillian Albright. The Lady Bucks took their first lead at 6-5 and did not give it up. Back-to-back kills by Criddle and Velasco put Lowry up 15-12, which was followed by a double hit call on the Wolverines. Lowry led by as many as five points at 18-13 and closed out the win with a block by Hannah Hillyer and Barron and a kill by Barron.
The Lady Bucks grabbed the early momentum of the second set, scoring five of the first seven points. Montero and Barron had aces in that stretch and Velasco added a tip and kill. However, Truckee used the tip game for much of the match to earn a number of its points.
"They know how to use that tip and we couldn't adjust to it for the last two weeks," Allen said. "We just couldn't keep the momentum going. We were hitting and passing the ball well. We played great defense and Darion (Iturriaga) played great. Truckee was just finding spots when they needed to."
Truckee flipped the lead to its favor at 13-12 and increased the margin to 16-13, when Lowry answered with three straight points, including a kill by Montero. The Wolverines went back in front 20-17, only to see Velasco answer with a kill. However, the Lady Bucks missed their next two serves, handing the Wolverines a 22-19 advantage.
Lowry did not go away and cut the deficit to 23-22 on a kill by Sierra Thiede, a kill by Albright and a tip by Montero. Lowry had a chance to tie the set but had a miss hit on the next point and Truckee claimed the win when Lowry was called for a double hit with the score at 24-22.
"There were a lot of double hits called during the entire day," Allen said. "It's tough when its not called during the season, but it is in the tournament."
Lowry shook off the call and scored four of the first five points of the third set behind a kill by Hillyer and two kills by Barron. Lowry led by as many as four points at 7-4, when Truckee used a 5-1 run to go in front 9-8. The two schools traded points from there, with Lowry taking a two-point lead at 18-16 after a block by Velasco and a tip by Hillyer. The Lady Bucks led 20-17, but that turned out to be the final points for Lowry. Truckee used an 8-0 run to close out the set.
The Wolverines carried that victory to the fourth set and scored nine of the first 12 points. Truckee led 11-5, but saw the margin cut to 16-15 after a kill by Madison Lozano. Once again the two squads traded points, with Lowry closing the gap to 20-19 on a tip by Thiede. However, Truckee rallied to score the next five points to win the match and advance to the state tournament.
"We will be back," Allen said. "We talked upstairs that we have accomplished so much this season. It's nice to here as a coach other people and schools saying its nice to have Lowry volleyball back on the map. We have room to grow and are a team to be reckoned with. The community sees that as well and the support we got from that is amazing."
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