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Consolation Prize: Plano sweeps Allen, Lady Eagles still make playoffs
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@starlocalnews.com
Any side effects of the Plano Senior volleyball team's loss to Plano West on Friday vanished the moment senior Audrey Davis laid down an ace to open Tuesday's match against Allen.
It was fitting given how the Lady Wildcats never trailed in rounding out their regular season with a sweep (25-23, 25-17, 25-14) of the Lady Eagles.
"Going into West last Friday was a little disappointing," said Teri Minnis, Plano head coach, "but coming out and playing the way we did tonight made it better. We needed a match where we could terminate and take care of business."
"I wanted to have a better showing here," said Kelley Gregoriew, Allen head coach. "I thought we played great early on. Both sides had their chances and I'm not sure what happened between sets one and two."
A nip-and-tuck opener was the closest the Lady Eagles came to snagging momentum. With each set win, the Lady Wildcats got stronger, culminating with a 25-14 decision.
A myriad of early Allen errors aided a 7-2 start by the Wildcats and the requisite offense filled the gaps, with senior Maddie Morell banging home five of her 10 kills in the final frame in addition to a match-clinching block. Committing just two errors in the third set, Plano opened up an advantage as steep as 19-7, as offense continually proved tough to come by for the Lady Eagles.
"We usually have really good ball control, which helps keep us in the game," Gregoriew said. "We struggled with that tonight, which made it hard to run the offense."
It wasn't until the set's eighth point that Allen posted its first kill, courtesy of freshman Chandler Atwood, who had five on the night.
That was a running theme for the Lady Eagles, most notably in the second set when Plano posted seven kills for a 10-4 advantage before Allen converted its first kill of the frame. That cushion expanded to 21-8 courtesy of a 7-0 Plano run midway through the set that included a pair of aces from junior Kylie Long.
Plano's sprint was briefly curtailed due to a 9-2 rally by the Lady Eagles that closed the gap to 23-17. Kills by Morell and Long quashed the comeback effort, though.
Long tallied five kills in the second set, a worthy encore to her opening number that featured seven of her match-high 14 kills.
"It's been a lot of fun to watch [Long] grow and progress into that position," Minnis said. "She started out as a middle and had never played left side before. If you look at film from the first match of the year to where we are tonight, she's a completely different player out there."
Senior Sam Seal added three of her nine kills in the first set, with Allen forced to play catch-up from the onset.
The Lady Eagles stayed within reach behind juniors Camryn Freiberg, Hannah Fry and sophomore Kaitlyn Blake, who each had three kills in the first. In total, Blake led all Lady Eagles with seven kills, while Freiberg added five and Fry chipped in four.
That, coupled with five Plano serving errors, had the teams gridlocked at 23-23.
"I preach to my kids to be aggressive when they're serving," Minnis said, "and with that I know there are going to be errors along the way. It's just one of those things where we have to take it and run with it."
The Lady Wildcats averted the miscues and instead let the steady trigger of Long seal the set with two unanswered kills.
It set the tone for the reminder of the evening, with Plano riding into the playoffs with a sweep in tow.
Gridlocked with West at 7-3 in second place, the Lady Wildcats and Lady Wolves will play Friday at 5:30 p.m. from East to determine the No. 2 and 3 seeds. The winner will play Richardson Tuesday at 6 p.m. with the loser slotted against Lake Highlands at 7:30 p.m. The matches will comprise a doubleheader at Lake Highlands.
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