WINNEMUCCA - The race for the four volleyball playoff spots in the Division I-A North is starting to heat up and Lowry High School helped itself out with a pair of road victories.
The Lady Bucks (5-5 Division I-A North, 11-13 overall) traveled to Spring Creek last Saturday and quickly dispatched the Spartans 25-13, 25-16 and 25-18 to close out the first half of the league season.
"We came out and played well and it was a good way to close out the first half of the season," said LHS head coach Megan Allen. "We played at high level the entire match and didn't drop to Spring Creek's level. We went in with a must win mentality."
Lowry jumped out to a 13-4 lead in the opening set, forcing Spring Creek to call a timeout. The break in the action did not help the Spartans as the Lady Bucks pulled away for the easy win.
It was a similar start to the second set with Lowry leading 8-3. After a timeout, Spring Creek battled back to cut the deficit to 18-15, only to see the Lady Bucks close out the set on a 7-1 run.
Lowry raced to an 11-4 lead in the third set and at the same time Spring Creek saw its top setter injure her back on a play and she did not return.
The Spartans rallied after the injury and cut the margin to 16-15, when the Lady Bucks pulled away once again with a 9-3 run to end the match.
Lowry was back on the floor this past Tuesday with a long road trip to South Tahoe. The Vikings, the defending Division I-A state champion, defeated the Lady Bucks in five sets on Friday, Sept. 27, in Winnemucca.
Lowry earned its revenge the second time around, winning 25-19, 19-25, 25-12, 16-25 and 15-11.
"It was a big win for us, especially after losing the first time to them in five sets," Allen said. "It was a long road trip for us on a weekday, plus it's Homecoming this week. I was happy with the way we played. Winning makes it a lot nicer when you get home early in the morning."
The two teams were evenly matched in the opening set, with four ties in the first 18 points. With the score at 9-9, Lowry started to pull ahead.
A handful of South Tahoe errors combined with strong hitting from Lowry's Rachel Sigurdson, Payton Naveran and Jillian Albright gave the Lady Bucks a five-point lead. Lowry held onto the edge, and two hitting errors by South Tahoe on the final three points gave Lowry the win.
"It was the first time this year that we won the first set against a competitive team," added the coach.
The Vikings bounced back to claim the second set, as once again the teams were evenly matched, tying the score four times.
However, this time South Tahoe gave the final push. Hannah Neiger served five unanswered points, and Sierra Fulton delivered the final kill in the Vikings' six-point win.
The momentum swung back in the Lady Bucks' favor in the third set. Lowry took control of the set early and never let up. Juliana Velasco and Sigurdson delivered the final kills in the 25-12 win.
South Tahoe bounced back in the fourth set on the strength of the hitting by Kendhyl Delacour.
For the second time this year the two schools went to a fifth set, with Lowry coming out on top this time. The Lady Bucks collected a number of kills to start the final set and the Vikings committed a couple of errors leading to the Lowry win. Sierra Thiede served the final four points for the Lady Bucks.
"Everyone contributed in the win for us," Allen said. "We got some big digs from our back row. Darion (Iturriaga) and Carly (Bell) played really well. We got some good blocks from the girls as well. It's always a good thing when you beat the defending state champions."
Lowry traveled to Dayton on Thursday and results were not available at press time. The Lady Bucks return home on Saturday to play Fernley at 1 p.m.
Tahoe Daily Tribune sports editor Becky Regan contributed to this story.
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