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Volleyball: Lights go out on Plano West as Marcus cruises
BY JUSTIN THOMAS, Jthomas@acnpapers.com
PLANO — Trialing, 23-20, in Game 1 of its District 8-5A volleyball matchup against Marcus, Plano West coach Brittany Bridge called timeout to regroup her team as the game was nearing a close.
But while each squad was heading to their respective benches, the lights at the Wolf Den went out for the second time in a 30-minute span.
The lights and power would eventually turn back on but West’s game never did.
It was quite a departure from the squads’ first meeting, when Marcus topped West at the Texas Open in Allen (25-13, 19-25, 25-14).
“That second game was probably the best I’ve seen them play,” said Christie Liles, Marcus coach. “Between our blocking, defense, hitting and controlling our balls to the spots they needed to go to, everything seemed to be working well.”
The matchup featured two of the four remaining unbeaten teams in 8-5A. But with the win, Marcus (3-0) sits in a tie atop the standings with Hebron and Allen, who each improved to 3-0 Friday.
West (2-1), meanwhile, is alone in fourth.
“A few of our hitters just weren’t playing the way they have been playing,” Bridge said. “I don’t know if it was nerves, but we’ve been connecting with the setters really well and making some good shots lately. But tonight it just wasn’t there. We were making errors we don’t normally make.”
The Lady Marauders defense notched 10 block-kills and kept the Lady Wolves’ attackers at bay throughout the match. Marcus also came up with key digs throughout the contest and was led by a team-high 20 from Mary Koehler. Regan McGuire led with five blocks.
“We were definitely blocking well tonight,” Liles said. “It’s kind of been lacking lately. I mean it’s been there but it hasn’t been as sharp and tonight we were really sharp. Ten block-kills is a lot and 20 digs in a three-game match for a player is ridiculous. You just don’t get 20 digs when you have everybody digging like we do. It would be like getting a triple-double in basketball at halftime.”
West appeared poised to give Marcus a tough match early when the Lady Wolves jumped out to a 5-1 lead in Game 1.
However, the Lady Marauders quickly responded to knot the game, 6-6, and the teams traded points before Marcus grabbed its first advantage at 15-14. The Lady Wolves also had to move on without the services of libero Shane Peters, who left the court with an injury with West leading, 5-3.
“My libero went down with an injury in Game 1 and played through a lot of pain in Game 2,” Bridge said. “But we had to change her out in Game 3. We were kind of battling against more things than we normally would in a match.”
Later in the first, with West leading, 20-19, Liles called a timeout and the Lady Marauders responded out of the break to take four consecutive points, prompting a West timeout — which was immediately followed by the night’s second power outage.
When the lights returned, a drop shot by Brittany Bernstein and a kill from Liz Fortado put Marcus up, 24-21, and the Lady Marauders went on to seal the first game on a West service error.
Fortado finished with eight kills, just behind team leader Lauren Douglass with nine. Katie Neisler chipped in seven, while McGuire and Bailey Bunting each added six.
Game 2 was never in doubt as Marcus stormed out to a 6-1 lead, including a pair of kills from Douglass, and pushed the lead to as much as 15-3 before settling for a 25-8 margin.
Marcus scored in a variety of ways, whether terminating balls on assists from Mallori Sando (19) and Sarah Hula (18) or just lightly dropping tips in between West’s defense.
“We’re trying to take little things and make them advantages,” Liles said. “We try to work on coverage and scooping. Today, we knew they had a hole in the middle of the floor from film and when we played them in Allen. We were able to take advantage.”
West responded by forcing a more tightly-contested Game 3, despite having a few key hitters relegated to the bench.
“I feel like in Game 3, even without our libero and with two of our big hitters out, we still challenged them,” Bridge said. “I’m disappointed in some ways but I’m really proud of the way some of the other girls stepped up in the end and fought through a tough game.”
Lizzie Jauregui and Sarah Bennett picked up the slack for West, notching six and four kills, respectively, in the third game.
“[Bennett] is a freshman and hasn’t really been playing with a ton of confidence,” Bridge said. “She’s been playing like a freshman, basically. But tonight was the first night I’ve really seen her step up and just go for it. And Lizzie played better than I’ve seen her play in a long time. Like I said, I don’t know if it came down to nerves or what, but things just didn’t go our way.”
Marcus continues at 7 p.m. Tuesday against Plano Senior.
“We were very steady and in control,” Liles said. “We really worked on that from Tuesday’s match, where we were all over the map. To win 25-8 is great, but to win in three games was amazing. We still have a bunch of tough ones ahead but I think we’re marching in the right direction.”
West has a chance to shakeup the standings and move back toward the top as they face Allen Tuesday and Hebron Friday.
“All-around, it’s another tough week,” Bridge said. “Every time we play Allen it’s a war just because it’s Allen. But we play them at home so that should help a little bit. In this district, as tough as it is, anything can happen and you have to be ready to play.”
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