If you just went by the scores, it would look like the Lowry High School volleyball team swept Spring Creek in three sets on Wednesday night in Winnemucca.
However, the Spartans made the Lady Bucks earn their 25-14, 25-22 and 25-17 Division I-A North victory in front of a packed gym.
“They are definitely an improved team,” said LHS head coach Megan Allen. “They will surprise a couple teams this year and get in the playoffs.”
Spring Creek led in the early parts of the first set, when Lowry climbed within a point at 10-9 off a kill by Juliana Velasco. That started a 4-0 rally for the Lady Bucks, who went ahead 13-10. Lowry slowly pulled away, as Spring Creek had no answer for Velasco, as the senior pounded three more kills to put the Lady Bucks in front 19-13. Hannah Hillyer, Sierra Thiede and Chelsea Herrera got in the act as well, with kills of their own to lead Lowry to the set victory.
“Chelsea played one of her best high school matches,” Allen said. “We worked on some things in practice, and she was pushing and tipping the ball in the right spots. She played a very smart match.”
Lowry (13-6 overall, 4-1 Division I-A North) jumped out to an early advantage in set two, only to see Spring Creek rally back to take an 11-10 lead and forcing the Lady Bucks to call timeout. Lowry tightened up its front row and came away with a couple of blocks by Herrera and Velasco to tie the set at 14-14.
The Lady Bucks built off that momentum with a tip by Thiede and a kill and tip by Velasco to make the score 17-14. The Spartans scored three quick points in a row to force another timeout by the Lady Bucks. The second break in the action proved to be beneficial to Lowry, closing the set on an 8-5 run. Herrera had two tips in that span and Velasco closed out the set with a kill off the chest of a Spring Creek player.
The third set went back-and-forth until halfway through, when Lowry took over and broke open an 11-11 tie to finish off the sweep.
“Spring Creek was scrappy,” Allen said. “When we needed to turn it on we did. It’s a good win.”
Lowry gets past South Tahoe
This past weekend, Lowry traveled to South Tahoe on Friday, Sept. 18, and came away with a four-set victory. The Lady Bucks cruised to the win in the first set 25-17, but the last three went down to the wire. Lowry won set two 25-22, but dropped the third set 25-23, before finishing off the Vikings 25-23 in the fourth set.
Dayton knocks off Lowry in five sets
Lowry finished off its weekend road trip on Saturday against Dayton. Both teams came into the match undefeated in league play. Earlier in the season, the Dust Devils beat the Lady Bucks in three sets in the Yerington Invitational.
The contest had a playoff feel to it, with the Dust Devils escaping with a 19-25, 25-23, 20-25, 22-25 and 17-15 win.
“It was a great match,” said the coach. “It could have gone either way with a couple breaks here and there. It’s a team I know we can beat.”
With the score tied late in the fourth set, Lowry had fate go against them on a couple of calls. The first appeared to be a tip by a Dayton player on a Lowry hit that went out of play that was not called, giving the point to the Dust Devils. On the next point, a ball hit by Dayton looked to be out, but it was called in and the Lady Bucks lost the set.
Lowry jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the fifth set, but could not hold the advantage, as Dayton battled back to claim the win.
Lowry is off this weekend and returns to action on Wednesday in Elko at 6 p.m. The Lady Bucks will be at home on Friday, Oct. 2, to host Truckee at 4 p.m. The times has been moved up to accommodate Homecoming.
