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Lady Tigers drop tough contest at home
The Nevada Lady Tigers varsity volleyball team suffered their second loss at home in three matches as they fell to the Pleasant Hill Chicks Monday night, 25-14, 19-25, 22-25.
The Lady Tigers got off to a very strong start in the opening set as they jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead on the heels of three consecutive aces by senior Melanie Messick. The Chicks refused the let the Lady Tigers get away and eventually clawed their way back within one at 5-4, but that didn't last long as Nevada began to mount a charge and pull away.
The Lady Tigers quickly started putting together a series of short runs, eventually extending their lead to as much as 10 at 22-12. Through the middle and ending portions of the set, the Lady Tigers appeared to simply be on cruise control as they coasted their way to an easy 25-14 victory.
The second set was an entirely different story for the Lady Tigers as their mid-game performance woes that have been a major course of issue all season long came back in full force. Thanks to strong defensive play and blocking by senior Mariah Mock, the Lady Tigers got off to a quick start, but once the Chicks were able to come back and tie the game at 6-6, everything seemed to fall apart.
Pleasant Hill eventually went on a tear of their own, putting together runs of four and five consecutive points on their way to building a 16-9 lead. The Lady Tigers eventually fought their way back to within one at 19-18, but weren't quite able to close the deal.
Over the final stretch, the Chicks outscored Nevada 6-1 to take the second set victory by a final score of 25-19.
"It's kind of the same old thing," Lady Tigers head coach Becky Lowery said. "Play a good first game, second game, we just can't keep it going for the entire game. I mean, we played parts of the game and looked awesome. It's just.... we lose our focus somewhere in the middle."
Those troubles simply continued for the Lady Tigers through the third and final set as they saw the Chicks erase an early 3-1 lead with a 4-0 run to take a 6-4 lead of their own. The game stayed fairly even from that point on until the midway point of the set when the Chicks went on a 5-0 run to take a 16-11 lead.
The Lady Tigers didn't show much sign of getting back into the game until it appeared to be too late as they found themselves in a 22-14 hole. Despite a valiant effort from everyone on the court, the lead was simply too much to overcome and the Lady Tigers ultimately fell just short by a final score of 25-22.
"We fought back in both games (two and three), you know," Lowery said. "If we could just keep that middle going, we just get in too big of a hole where it's too big to fight out of it."
Mock finished out the night with team-highs in blocks with eight and aces with four, but the Lady Tigers did get some strong defensive play from a couple of unlikely sources as well. Messick finished the night with two blocks while Allie Irwin added one of her own.
The Lady Tigers freshman and JV squads had much better luck on the night as they were both able to come away with two-set victories. The freshman squad jumped out early and never looked back as they took the win 25-16, 25-12 on the heels of a total of 18 aces -- six of which came from Brooke Munsterman.
Nevada's JV squad was forced to work a bit harder to come out on top, but was still able to do so as they pulled out two close decisions. The first JV set was nearly the closest of the night for any of the three teams as they squeaked by the Chicks with a 25-20 win before following that with a 25-20 decision in the final set.
With that loss, the Lady Tigers' varsity record fell to 5-3 on the season while the JV improved to 6-2. The next action for Nevada is scheduled for Thursday as they host Stockton in a JV/varsity doubleheader starting at 6 p.m., at Wynn Gymnasium.