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Revenge is a dig best served cold: Lady Wolves end Lady Panthers' season
BY Kevin Hageland, khageland@starlocalnews.com
In 2011, Plano East volleyball kept Plano West out of the playoffs by defeating them as part of a play-in tournament for the final postseason spot out of District 8-5A.
It took a year, but the Lady Wolves (7-3 in district) gained a measure of revenge Tuesday night with a sweep (25-17, 25-19, 25-19) of the Lady Panthers (3-7) to keep East from advancing to a play-in match with Allen for the final postseason spot out of District 10-5A.
"Last year they knocked us out of the playoffs," said Abigail Curry, West senior setter, "so we wanted to return the favor."
"I don't think revenge was really a big part of our thought process coming in," said Brittany Bridge, West head coach, who has taken the Lady Wolves to the playoffs every season except last year. "But it was East's Senior Night and so many of the girls' favorite memory was "Knocking West out of the playoffs," that I think that is really when my girls starting talking about it."
That being said, it took both teams a while to get their connections going.
"Yeah, we had the setters going a little too fast and the hitters going a little too slow, so it just wasn't working," said Curry, who had seven digs and 15 assists.
West took the lead for good in Game 1 at 10-9 off a kill by senior Julia DeVinney and extended that advantage to 13-9 following an ace from senior Shane Peters, but it wasn't until midway through the teens that the kills ramped up. The Lady Panthers got good hits from senior Symone Stephenson, but could never get closer than three points as the Lady Wolves responded with terminations by junior Morgan MacGilvary (12 kills), senior Brooke Coleman (11 digs, 22 assists) and senior Katie Stebbins (seven kills) to establish a 21-16 lead.
Two East errors and another MacGilvary kill finished the set in West's favor, 25-17.
The Lady Panthers displayed more energy in Game 2, with an ace by junior Brianna Blagowsky, two kills from senior Kayla Burling and a block by junior McKenzie Shea giving the home team an 8-4 advantage.
"We were scrambling more than we should have," Bridge said. "I'm not sure if that's because we had already sealed the playoffs or what, but we eventually got it together."
As the Lady Wolves came into form, the Lady Panthers too often saw their points come off methods other than terminations.
"We're fighters. We'll fight until the end; that's kind of our Hallmark and I felt like we went out swinging," said Steven Jones, East head coach. "We just couldn't execute and put the ball away when it really mattered. West was keeping plays alive and keeping the ball up and we couldn't put it down."
Credit Peters and freshman Ania Mlynarczyk for that as the former registered 21 digs and the latter 17.
Behind its solid defense, West made a push to tie the score at 11-11, a margin that held steady until 17-17. At that point, the Lady Wolves reeled off three straight, the last being a controversial ruling in which both teams were at one time awarded the point.
"There were certain calls that didn't go our way," Jones said, "and maybe we got a little distracted by that."
What was far more concerning for East though was the fact those three points were part of an 8-2 run West used to end the set, finishing up a 25-19 victory on a kill by DeVinney. The 6-foot-1 middle blocker accounted for seven kills on the night, including three of the set's final four points.
The Lady Wolves put up similar closing runs in Game 1 (5-1) and Game 3 (9-2).
"We've had trouble closing games at times this season," Jones said, "and you saw that tonight."
East's defense, paced by senior Gabby Litwin, stepped up in Game 3 and the Lady Panthers took their first multi-pint lead of the set at 14-12 following a kill by senior Sammy Myers.
But as had been the case the prior two games, West was best down the stretch.
"I think a lot of it was just a matter of communication, which is always big for us," Curry said. "Any time we lost a point, we'd say, 'first ball, side out; first ball, side out."
Improved connections led to third-set kills from MacGilvary and Stebbins and an eventual 17-17 tie. East did some of the work from there as five of the Lady Wolves' final eight points, including the 25-19 match clincher, came via Lady Panthers' errors, double touches or net violations.
Tuesday's win puts West in a tie with Plano for second place in 8-5A with the coaches set to meet Wednesday morning to decide whether to flip a coin or play for the No. 2 seed.
East, however, won't need such a meeting as this loss slots the Lady Panthers in fifth and ends their season.
"The bottom line for us is if we had won tonight, we would keep playing," Jones said.
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