Going into the High Sierra Invitational last weekend in California, the Lowry High School volleyball team was quite sure what to expect in the 36-team field.
Division I powers Bishop Manogue and Bishop Gorman led the field, with the Miners winning the tournament. The Lady Bucks were able to play a number of California schools and Division I schools from northern Nevada and came away with four wins in seven matches.
“It was a great weekend for us,” said LHS coach Megan Allen. “We did better than I expected overall. I knew it was going to be a tough tournament to begin with. I think the girls may have been a little intimidated in our first match because of the size of the tournament. After that they were ready to go and we did really well.”
Lowry (9-5) had three pool matches on Friday, Sept. 4, and started with a 25-18 and 25-23 loss to Damonte Ranch. The Lady Bucks bounced back to beat Hilmar, Calif., in three sets. Hilmar won the first set 25-18, but Lowry came back to win the final two sets 25-18 and 15-12. Damonte Ranch and Hilmar tied for ninth in the tournament.
To close out pool play, the Lady Bucks pulled out a three-set thriller to Reed of the Division I North. The Raiders won the first set 25-22, but Lowry fought back to claim the last two sets 25-12 and 16-14.
“It wasn’t a bad day for us,” Allen said. “Damonte is a team that we can beat. I think if we played them later in the day we would have beaten them. We just got off to a slow start. I liked the way we battled back in the other two matches.”
Lowry was placed in Division 2, Pool 3 on Saturday morning, where a rematch of the Division I-A North regional semifinals took place. A year ago in Winnemucca, Truckee ended the hopes of a state tournament run by the Lady Bucks. Lowry was able to get some revenge, winning 25-18 and 25-20.
“It’s always good to beat Truckee,” Allen said. “It wasn’t hard to get the girls motivated to play. It was good to see. The girls weren’t overly excited, but focused on what they needed to do. “
Lowry followed that win, with an easy 25-7, 25-17 victory over North Valleys. The Lady Bucks then were put in a crossover bracket against Reno. Lowry looked poised to beat the Division I school, taking the first set 25-9. However, the Lady Bucks could not keep the momentum going, as the Huskies won the final two sets 25-14 and 15-10.
Lowry moved on to the Queen Bracket to take on El Captain out of Merced, Calif. El Captain won both sets 25-18 to end the Lady Bucks run in the tournament and Lowry placed 23rd.
“We were getting tired in that last match,” Allen said. “That was our fifth match of the day. I was happy with the way we played. We found success. The things we worked on in practice to improve on we took the court and did it, which was nice to see. These first two tournaments were to get us ready for league play.”
Lowry started Division I-A North action on Thursday at Churchill County and results were not available at press time.
The Lady Bucks hosts Fernley today 6 p.m.
