If you blinked, you might have missed it. The Lowry High School volleyball team needed a little more than 45 minutes to beat Sparks 25-6, 25-13 and 25-7 on Wednesday night in Winnemucca.
The Lady Bucks improved to 9-1 in the Division I-A North and 21-2 overall.
"We came out and played well," said LHS coach Megan Allen. "I changed the lineup a little bit. I was pleased with how my sophomores came and out played. They played with good intensity."
Meg Montero served the first 13 points of the match for Lowry, which included three aces from the senior. Ashlee Barron added two kills and Chelsea Herrera and Madison Lozano each had a kill in that span.
Sparks scored its first point on a miss hit by Lowry, but points were few and far between for the Railroaders. The Lady Bucks used a kill by Juliana Velasco and two aces by Lozano to increase the lead to 18-4. Lowry scored the final five points of the set, started by a block by Sierra Thiede and Montero and Jillian Albright finished off Sparks with two aces.
It was much of the same to begin the second set, as Lowry ran out to an 8-0 lead. That run included a kill and tip by Hannah Hillyer and a kill by Herrera. Herrera added two more aces to push the advantage to 14-3.
The Lady Bucks led by as many as 14 points at 20-6, when the Railroaders made a run to cut the lead to 23-13.
Last year, Lowry defeated Sparks 25-0 in a set and it looked like the Lady Bucks might do it again. Hillyer served 14 straight points to open the third set, which included three aces and a kill from the sophomore.
The run ended with a missed serve, but Lowry quickly got back on track with four kills from Velasco to go in front 19-4. The Lady Bucks closed out the match with two kills by Madison Montero, two aces by Velasco and an ace by Sierra Thiede.
"I was happy with the way we kept the intensity up," Allen said. "We did not drop our level of play, which is easy to do in a match like that."
Lowry will get a much-better test tonight as it hosts Truckee at 6 p.m. The Wolverines are currently third in the Division I-A North, one match behind the Lady Bucks. Lowry steps out of league play on Saturday to play Pershing County in Lovelock at 1 p.m.
"We are excited to play Truckee," Allen said. "This is a big match for us. We know we can play with them."[[In-content Ad]]
