WINNEMUCCA - For the second time in a week, the Lowry High School junior varsity volleyball defeated its Humboldt County rival to the north in four sets.
The Lady Bucks (11-5 overall, 5-0 Division I-A) knocked off the Lady Bulldogs 25-17, 16-25, 25-21 and 25-16 Tuesday in Winnemucca.
"They made us work for it tonight," said LHS head coach Megan Allen. "I don't know what happened to us in the second set. We did the same thing when we played them in McDermitt. The girls came back and worked hard. We have good passers on our team and when we pass well we can really set up our offense."
Lowry has now won six matches in a row, while the Lady Bulldogs saw their two-match win streak end.
"We are getting better, but we really never did show up tonight," said MHS head coach Jaimi Wilkinson. "It was disappointing tonight, but I do see us getting better. Instead of focusing on the negatives, we will go back to practice and focus on the positive."
McDermitt (3-8 overall, 2-0 Division III East) scored three of the first four points of the first set, which included a kill by Sharon Sherburn. Lowry stopped the run with a block by Payton Naveran and eventually tied the set at 5-5 after a kill by Lindsay Pate and an ace by Meg Montero.
"This was the first time we have had Meg serve," Allen said. "She came out and did not miss a serve and had three aces."
The Lady Bulldogs scored two points in a row to go back up 7-5 in the first set, but that was the last advantage they held.
Jillian Albright fired off an ace for Lowry to tie the set at 8-8. The Lady Bucks expanded the margin to 12-9 and broke the set open on three straight aces by Darion Iturriaga, which made the score 21-12.
McDermitt used the front-row play of Sherburn and led 6-3 in the second set on her two kills and two blocks. Lowry rallied to close the gap to 7-6 on a kill by Naveran, an ace by Montero and a tip over the net into the open floor by Ashlee Baron.
That was as close as the Lady Bucks got, as it was all Lady Bulldogs from there. Behind two aces by Danilla James, McDermitt opened a five-point lead at 11-6, forcing Lowry to call a timeout. The Lady Bucks closed within 17-14 at one time, only to see the Lady Bulldogs close out the set with an 8-2 run.
The third set featured five ties, with each team taking its turn out in front. The turning point in the set came at 12-12, when Lowry's Carly Bell served four aces in a five-point stretch to give the Lady Bucks a 17-12 lead.
Lowry picked up aces from Auri Criddle and Iturriaga to make the score 23-17. However, Sherburn kept McDermitt in the set and with two kills brought the Lady Bulldogs within two points at 23-21. McDermitt had the chance close the margin to a point with its serve, but Lowry picked up a side out on the play and won the set on the next point with an ace by Montero.
Lowry ran with the momentum from the third set and scored eight of the first 10 points in the fourth set. McDermitt called a timeout after an ace by Montero in an attempt to stop the 8-2 rally. The Lady Bulldogs used kills by Sherburn and Staheli Wilkinson to cut the deficit to 11-8.
Lowry rallied from there with the help of two more aces by Bell and consecutive kills by Sierra Thiede and Naveran to expand the advantage to 22-13. Chelsea Herrera closed out the match with her second block of the match.
"It was good for us to play a team that hits the ball like Lowry does," Wilkinson said. "Lowry has a very good JV program and it was nice to play close to home. We don't get to do that very often. It was good to play in front of a big crowd as well. We tend to get intimidated by big crowds. We need that experience of playing in front of people."
Lowry had 17 aces in the match, with Bell accounting for six. Iturriaga and Montero had three aces apiece; Naveran had two and Jillian Albright, Criddle, and Barron had one each.
Barron led Lowry at the net with four kills to go with one block. Criddle finished with three kills and Montero, Albright and Bell had two kills apiece. Albright and Thiede ended with four and three digs, respectively, and Albright and Iturriaga had 12 and 10 assists.
"I thought we did a good job with our blocking," Allen said. "Chelsea's block was a good way to end the match. It was good to have energy in the gym and there were a lot of back-and-forth rallies."
Lady Bucks crush Sparks in two sets
Lowry stayed perfect in Division I-A play with a 25-11 and 25-10 win over Sparks on Friday, Sept. 21, in Winnemucca. The Lady Bucks had little trouble with the Railroaders, recording 19 aces in the match.
Naveran recorded six of the aces, while Criddle finished with five and Iturriaga four. Barron and Naveran dominated the net with six and four kills, respectively. Barron led the Lady Bucks with five digs and Pate had three.
Lowry hosts Truckee Saturday at 1 p.m. and is back at home to play Spring Creek on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
McDermitt earns two league wins over Wells
McDermitt started off its Division III East schedule on a high note with two road wins over Wells on Friday, Sept. 21. The Leopards came into the season as one of the top teams in the league.
The Lady Bulldogs won the first match 25-20, 15-25 and 16-14 and finished off the doubleheader with a 25-15, 23-25 and 15-11 victory.
"The two wins were huge for us," Wilkinson said. "It was the best my girls have played in two years. We passed the ball extremely well and served exceptionally well. The girls played smart and they all played their positions. My freshmen got involved and played well. We needed those wins, especially playing on the road."
McDermitt travels to Jordan Valley, Ore., on Tuesday for a 5:30 p.m. (MST) start.
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