Following a challenging preseason with two tournaments, the Lowry High School volleyball teams got down to business and opened Northern 3A play on Wednesday, Sept. 6, in Spring Creek.
The Lady Bucks had little trouble disposing of the Spartans, sweeping their Elko County counterparts 25-10, 25-13 and 25-22 to improve to 8-5 overall and 1-0 in the Northern 3A.
“I don’t think we played our best match, but it is still a win,” said LHS coach Brandon Eastman. “It was a good way to get ourselves going in the conference season. We let them hang around in the third set and almost gave it up. We have to be ready to close out a team when we have a chance.”
Lowry led 7-6 in the first set, but pulled away with six consecutive points and were not challenged from there. The second set was much the same, with the Lady Bucks dominating play.
With a different Lowry lineup on the floor in the third set, Spring Creek jumped out to an 8-4 advantage, forcing the Lady Bucks to play from behind.
Lowry rallied to tie the set at 15 and teams traded points from there, with Spring Creek going in front 21-20. The Lady Bucks used a kill to tie set at 21 and went on a 4-1 run from there to close out the match.
“It was kind of a tough match, because you weren’t sure what Spring Creek was going to do,” Eastman said. “The girls had to be ready for a free ball at anytime. I did like the way we hit the ball.”
The Lady Bucks had 41 kills on the night, with Brittany Jacaway leading the way with 16. She was the only Lowry player in double figures.
Kyllie Sappington added six kills and Alyssa Kuskie, Sierra Maestrejuan and Julianne Montero each had four kills. Brooke Hansen and Kepa Bengochea added two kills apiece.
Jadyn Eastman finished with 25 assists on the night, while fellow senior Andrea Escobedo had 10 assists. Lowry had nine aces against Spring Creek, including four from Sappington and two from Tailor West. The Lady Bucks had a serving percentage of 90 percent.
Bengochea and West had 10 and eight digs on the night, as Lowry had 33 as a team.
Lowry makes its home debut on Wednesday at 6 p.m. against Fernley. They are back on the road Thursday to face Churchill County at 6 p.m.
The Lady Bucks are back on the road again on Sept 22-23 to play Dayton and South Tahoe.
“It will finally be nice to play at home,” Eastman said. “I am looking forward to it and I know the girls are, too. We have two tough matches and we will see where we are as a team.”
