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Truckee volleyball | Wolverines shock Lowry on senior farewell

Sylas Wright
swright@sierrasun.com
Truckee senior Kari Murphy and the Wolverines won their final regular-season match at home against Lowry on Saturday.
Sylas Wright / Sierra Sun |

Final Northern Division I-A standings

Team League         Overall

xElko 15-1  22-5

xLowry         14-2  27-3

xTruckee     12-4  17-13

xDayton       10-6  21-9

South Tahoe           8-8     16-15

Fallon           6-9     15-16-1

Spring Creek          2-12  5-16

Fernley        2-14  5-23

Sparks          0-16  0-23

x – Clinched playoff berth

The Lowry volleyball team knows now that the Wolverines are not to be overlooked.

After routing visiting Truckee in straight sets on Oct. 17, the Buckaroos ran into a healthier and more cohesive unit in both teams’ season finale Saturday.

Feeding off their lively senior farewell crowd, the Wolverines (12-4 league, 17-13) earned a hard-fought win in five games, 25-23, 25-27, 25-12, 22-25, 15-11, to clinch the No. 3 regional playoff seed. Lowry (14-2, 27-3) enters the tournament as the No. 2 seed.



The teams will meet again in the semifinal round of the Northern Division I-A regional tournament at Lowry this Saturday.

“The girls played well,” Truckee coach Erika Murphy said of Saturday’s match. “It was nice to have our middles back and be able to take advantage of my other outside hitter, Taylor Stevens, and move her to right side. Her blocking really helped with defense. 



“We are feeling very positive about this Saturday with our players finding their stride.”

Murphy said the young Wolverines may have caught the Buckaroos off guard following their poor performance in Winnemucca last month. After Truckee took the first set, Lowry shuffled its lineup to adjust to the improved Truckee squad.

It worked as the visitors came back to take the second set by two points. But the Wolverines rebounded to take the next two of three, including a lopsided third set.

Truckee received contributions across the board, with junior Anais Fay and sophomore Maia Dvoracek leading the attack with 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Katie Fisher, Lauren Anderson and Madison Haley finished with six kills apiece, and Stevens added five.

Dvoracek had the hot serving hand for the Wolverines, as the lefty tallied four service aces to go along with her 27 assists. Stevens, Fay and Haley each had two blocks, while Fisher had 17 digs, Stevens and Fay each had 13 digs, Haley had 12, and Anderson 10. Shelby Gendreau added 20 assists.

Lowry junior Juliana Velasco led the Buckaroos with 16 kills, and Auri Criddle had 19 assists.

The Wolverines bid farewell to four seniors — Stevens, Kari Murphy, Tori Simpson and Katherine Englert.

Regionals

Third-seeded Truckee and second-seeded Lowry square off in the semifinal round of the Northern Division I-A regional tournament at Lowry on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Top-seeded Elko (15-1, 22-5) and fourth-seeded Dayton (10-6, 21-9) play in the other semifinal at noon. The semifinal winners clash for the regional title Saturday at 4 p.m.

The top two teams advance to the Division I-A state championship Nov. 14-15 in Reno.


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