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Give and Take: Lady Broncos top Allen, move within one win of 10-5A crown
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@starlocalnews.com
ALLEN -- All the McKinney Boyd volleyball team apparently needed Tuesday night was the slightest hint of adversity.
It's a trend head coach Kelly Quinn admits she hopes doesn't continue but, nevertheless, it was one that moved the Lady Broncos (7-1) within one win of a District 10-5A Championship following a 3-1 victory (25-19, 22-25, 25-12, 25-21) over Allen (3-5).
"This was a nose-to-the-grindstone kind of match," Quinn said. "We weren't particularly on, but Allen played really well and it felt like we had to fight for every point tonight."
And just as Boyd responded with a 25-13 third-set win against West, a 25-12 win in the third frame restored momentum against the Lady Eagles.
In the only set Boyd led wire-to-wire, the Lady Broncos distanced themselves with a 5-0 run midway through the stanza, capped by an ace from senior Kelly Koop and an ensuing Allen error for a 15-7 lead. That margin would balloon later on, with Boyd scoring 10 of the set's final 11 points, a run finished by a kill from senior Megan Mollett for the 25-12 win.
That was a common theme all evening, with Mollett teeing off on the Allen defense for a match-high 28 kills.
"Megan scored a lot of points and she hit well," said Kelly Gregoriew, Allen head coach. "We had a difficult time slowing her down and I imagine she pulled most of their points."
Mollett would accrue 10 of her kills in a wild fourth frame that saw Boyd build off its surge in the third set, albeit not without some resistance.
The two squads were tied 12 times, with the Lady Broncos getting the better of the five lead changes after Allen opened a 20-18 lead behind one of a team-high 20 kills from junior Camryn Freiberg. Mollett helped close that gap and regain the lead, contributing to all but one of Boyd's final six points either via kill or block. The Lady Eagles didn't have a counter for the outside hitter's outpouring and were outscored, 7-1, to close the match.
"Volleyball is a game of momentum," Quinn said. "I get that it goes up and down, but we need to make sure that we're not waiting for someone to make a mistake so we can get motivated. We need to come out strong and be leaders on the court."
Mollett and Freiberg were the only players to post double-digit kills, with Mollett complemented by eight kills from Koop and six from senior Krista Bukovec. Freiberg was aided by five kills from both junior Hannah Fry and sophomore Kaitlyn Blake; the latter contributing two kills in Allen's second-set win.
In that set, the Lady Eagles responded to a 1-0 hole by erasing a 14-9 deficit with an 8-3 run that knotted the count at 17-17 following an ace by senior Kate Klepetka.
Allen gained the lead at 20-19 after a tandem block by Freiberg and sophomore Sydney Joseph. The Lady Eagles followed with three unanswered points to close out the set, 25-22, capped by a Blake-Fry block to turn away a shot by Mollett for the win.
"We had a lot of good scrap balls and our defense was good (in the second set)," Gregoriew said. "Offensively, we practiced going at the setter and running the tips that we worked on."
The Lady Eagles wouldn't enjoy the same fortune to open the match, with Boyd starting in similar fashion to how it finished. The Lady Broncos got the better end of a first set that featured 11 ties until Boyd separation with a 5-1 run to close out the set. In particular, the Lady Broncos keyed on the Allen front line with a bevy of drop shots that sent the Lady Eagles scrambling throughout the contest.
"I would like for them to be aggressive," Quinn said, "but a smart shot every once in a while is always a good idea to keep the defense on its toes."
Totaling 17 kills in the opening frame, Boyd claimed the set following a kill from senior Kaley Seaber, the seventh Lady Bronco to record a kill during the frame.
Three sets later, the Lady Broncos had their seventh district win, with Friday's 6 p.m. home tilt against Plano East marking a chance for Boyd to secure the 10-5A title.
At that same time, Allen hosts McKinney in a match that could lead to the Lady Eagles procuring the district's final playoff spot.
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