WINNEMUCCA - When the season started for the Lowry High School varsity volleyball, not many gave the squad a chance of reaching the four-team regional championship.
The Lady Bucks won all of one game in the Division I-A North last season and was the only school in the nine-team league to make the playoffs.
Lowry was able to quiet the naysayers as the year-long transformation culminated this past Saturday in Winnemucca. The Lady Bucks knocked off Spring Creek 20-25, 25-17, 25-15 and 25-16 to finish 9-7 in the Division I-A North and earning the No. 4 seed in this Saturday's regional championship.
"The girls have come a long way from the start of the season," said LHS head coach Megan Allen. "Everyone looked at us and thought we would be at the bottom of the league again. We made the playoffs, but we are going into the playoffs hoping to cause an upset."
Lowry started off slow in the first set and was trailing 6-5, when the Lady Bucks went on a 4-0 run capped off by a block by Auri Criddle and a kill by Meg Montero.
Trailing 11-8, Spring Creek, who had just two wins in league play, scored eight of the next nine points to lead 16-12 and the Spartans did not trail again. The Spartans led by as many as seven points at 21-14, when the Lady Bucks went on a 4-0 run to close the gap to 21-18, with an ace by Jillian Albright to close out the spurt. However, Spring Creek ended the set scoring four of the final six points.
"We just couldn't get going in the first set," Allen said. "We started with a rotation on the floor to honor our seniors. I know we were emotional out there and there were some nerves. We had to win this match to get into the playoffs."
Lowry reversed its fortunes in the second set, scoring five of the first six points. A block and kill by Payton Naveran, a kill by Criddle and an ace by Ere Higbee pushed the Lady Bucks' advantage to 16-8, forcing Spring Creek to call a timeout.
The Spartans closed within 16-11, but the Lady Bucks quickly countered with kills from Sierra Thiede and Juliana Velasco to extend the lead to 22-12. Lowry closed out the set with a dig by Darion Iturriaga that dropped back on the open floor of Spring Creek.
After seeing the Spartans score the first two points of the third set, the Lady Bucks answered with the next six points and did not trail again. Lowry took advantage of four missed serves by Spring Creek and a tip by Rachel Sigurdson, a kill by Criddle and a kill by Velasco to make the score 17-9.
The Spartans trimmed the deficit to 17-14 with a 5-0 run, only to see the Lady Bucks counter with the next seven points with Carly Bell at the service line. Velasco closed out the set with one of her 12 kills on the day.
Lowry ended any hopes of a Spring Creek upset, jumping to a 9-1 advantage in the fourth set. The Spartans serving woes continued to hinder them, missing six more serves in the set.
Trailing 14-12, Spring Creek missed a serve, which allowed Lowry to go on a 4-1 run to push the advantage back to five points. Albright and Naveran closed out the match with an ace and block, respectively.
"Spring Creek came out with a lot of energy," added the coach. "They had nothing to lose and were out to ruin our season."
Criddle finished with four kills and Naveran and Thiede each had three kills. Albright, Sigurdson and Iturriaga each had two kills. Naveran led the Lady Bucks with three blocks, while Meg Montero, Albright, Velasco and Thiede each had two.
Iturriaga was one of six Lady Bucks in double figures in digs with 38. Allison Barron and Sigurdson each had 15 digs, Bell had 13, Higbee 11 and Thiede 10.
Lowry travels to Dayton on Saturday for the Division I-A North Regional Championships. The Lady Bucks play Dayton at noon, while Elko and Truckee meet at 2 p.m. The championship is set for 4 p.m. The top two teams advance to the state championships in Las Vegas.
"We are going to go practice hard all week and see what we can do," Allen said. "We want to keep our season going. Everyone loves the underdog and we will be the underdog."
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