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Lady Tigers defeat Stockton at home
By Eric Wade
Daily Mail Sports Editor
The Nevada Lady Tigers volleyball team got back into action at Wynn Gymnasium Thursday night knowing they had a much less formidable opponent in front of them, but still had a lot on the line following a far less than impressive performance in their last home match.
The Lady Tigers entered Thursday's match against the Stockton Lady Tigers hoping to erase the bad memories left on the minds of players, coaches and fans alike from a three-set sweep at the hands of Carl Junction Tuesday night. That was exactly what the Lady Tigers did as they dominated nearly every aspect of the match, winning in two sets by the final scores of 25-9 and 25-11.
"We could have easily played down or just played to get through the match and instead, I think, we played to win," Lady Tigers head coach Ashley Thoreson said. "We knew we had to redeem ourselves from Tuesday night."
In stark contrast to Tuesday's contest, the Lady Tigers came out firing on all cylinders Thursday, putting both sets away early. In the opener, the Lady Tigers almost effortlessly worked their way out to an 8-0 lead before head coach Lisa Kenney's Stockton Lady Tigers were able to get any offense going.
"They came out with a lot more energy tonight from point one and I think right there was the big difference from the start of the match on Tuesday to the start of the match tonight," Thoreson said. "You know, I made it very clear, we need to get energy from the beginning and be aggressive from the beginning."
The Lady Tigers were playing without much help from libero Lexie Overton for the second time this year, but that didn't seem to have much of an impact as they showed right from the start which team was the better one in the matchup. Overton did get onto the court a few times during the match, but was severely limited by a knee injury she suffered in practice.
"I didn't want to use her tonight, if I didn't have to," Thoreson said of the 5-foot, 5-inch sophomore. "I wanted her to rest her knee and hopefully, heal for this weekend."
Despite the limited availability of Overton, however, the Lady Tigers had little trouble combating everything Stockton threw at them. Thoreson and the rest of her coaching staff made a point of looking just at the positives from Tuesday's match and stressing them heading into competition Thursday and that paid off in a big way as the Lady Tigers took a 16-point victory in the opener.
Rilie Good has been a dominant force at the net for the Lady Tigers for most of the season, but that wasn't the case in the opening set. Stockton was able to neutralize the power hitting Good has made a point of showcasing, but that didn't seem to matter as several other players stepped up in her place -- most notably, Bree Reppert.
Reppert finished the opening set with five kills, three aces and two digs, further solidifying her status as one of the stars of the team. She went on to add two more digs and two more aces in the second set, to finish among the team leaders in both categories.
But Reppert wasn't the only one who made a significant impact. As she has done many times through the season, Morgan McNeley was once again all over the court, finishing the night with two digs, two blocks and a kill.
"Those two, they showed up to play," Thoreson said. "You know, when Bree's on, she's really on."
In the second set, the Lady Tigers got off to the same fast start as in the opener, working their way to another 8-0 lead. Through the remainder of the set, Thoreson's squad dominated nearly every aspect of the game, mounting a pair of long runs that put it out of reach.
The biggest story of the second set wasn't hard to see, right from the start. Throughout the night, but especially in the closing set, Stockton simply couldn't find any answers for Nevada's aggressive serving.
"We served aggressive," Thoreson said. "It looked much better than Tuesday night."
Leading the charge in serving was Brooklyn Ryan, who finished the night one ace ahead of Reppert with five. Alisha Conner added two more to bring the team total up to 11.
That staggering total proved to simply be too much for Stockton to handle and the Lady Tigers closed out the match just as strongly as they began, taking a 14-point victory in the second set.
"It was a good match to win and really just take care of the ball," Thoreson said.
With the win, the Lady Tigers improved to 9-4 on the season and Thoreson said she and her staff will focus on serve receive and defense leading into the Carl Junction Classic tournament Saturday, in which the Lady Tigers hope for a shot at revenge against the Lady Bulldogs.
"We had a little setback Tuesday and they easily could have let it affect practice yesterday and bring it into tonight and really dwell on it," Thoreson said. "Instead, we decided we'd learn from it. When we play mental, that's what happens."
Nevada will open the tournament at 9 a.m., Saturday, taking on Aurora, at Carl Junction High School, before finishing pool play against Mount Vernon and College Heights.