WINNEMUCCA - There was no lack of excitement on the floor as the Lowry High School junior varsity volleyball team played host to Truckee on Saturday afternoon.
The Wolverines arrived in Winnemucca late and had just the allotted eight minutes of warm-up time before playing. The Lady Bucks (12-6 overall, 5-1 Division I-A) were without coach Megan Allen, who had a prior engagement. Lowry also played without one of its starting players including Payton Naveran, who missed the match due to an injury.
When all was said and done, Truckee handed Lowry its first defeat against a JV squad this year, winning 25-22, 24-26 and 16-14.
"It was a great match and Truckee played tough," said LHS varsity head coach Bob Rice. "I don't know if our girls missed their coach. We were just a little flat. The girls are usually keyed up to play but weren't themselves today. They were without a starting player and missing their coach."
The late arrival did not hurt the Wolverines as they raced to an 8-2 lead in the first set, forcing the Lady Bucks to call a timeout. Truckee kept the margin between five and seven points but Lowry's Meg Montero and Darion Iturriaga did their best to keep the Lady Bucks in the set with a kill and ace respectively. Lowry cut the deficit to two points, 14-12, after a kill by Iturriaga, an ace by Carly Bell and a kill by Sierra Thiede, which forced Truckee to stop the action with a timeout.
The Lady Bucks took their first lead of the set at 16-15 on a kill by Montero and extended the advantage to 21-17. However, Truckee rallied with the next six points to go back in front 23-21. The Wolverines missed their next serve but the Lady Bucks could not capitalize on the mistake and Truckee scored the next three points to win the set.
The second set was just as wild, with a number of momentum swings by both schools. Lowry scored seven of the first 10 points, aided by an ace by Bell and a kill from Montero. The Lady Bucks' lead disappeared as the Wolverines went on a 6-2 run to tie the set at 9-9.
Auri Criddle's kill helped Lowry regain the momentum and after a kill by Thiede, an ace by Iturriaga and a tip by Ashlee Barron, the Lady Bucks seemed to have control at 21-14. The Wolverines fought back for a second time and tied the set at 22, 23 and 24. At 24-24, Truckee missed its serve and Lowry scored the next point to win the set.
The back-and-forth fight continued into the deciding third set, with the Wolverines leading 9-4. The momentum shifted when Lindsay Pate dug up a ball and into an open space on the Truckee side of the floor for a Buckaroo point. A tip by Barron and a kill by Criddle brought Lowry within a point at 12-11, forcing a Truckee timeout.
The Lady Bucks remained hot after the stoppage, as Bell served two aces in the next three points for a 14-12 advantage and match point for Lowry. The Wolverines used their second timeout to stop the run and it paid off. Truckee scored the next four points to win the match.
Bell had five of Lowry's six aces in the match as the junior added three assists, two digs and one kill. Montero led Lowry at the net with six blocks and five kills, while Thiede and Barron finished with four and three kills, respectively. Iturriaga had three digs and two kills and Criddle had two blocks, one kill and one assist. Pate had a team-high nine digs and Jillian Albright finished with eight assists, two digs, one kill and one block.
Lowry looks to get back on the winning track when they host Spring Creek tonight at 5 p.m.
[[In-content Ad]]
