Lady Eagles' serve swerves Lewisville in sweep

The Lewisville volleyball team never managed to consistently stay on the same page against Allen in its first road match of the District 8-5A schedule Tuesday night.

Marred by Lady Farmer miscues and communication breakdowns, the Lady Eagles were welcome to capitalize and followed suit by doing so with a sweep of Lewisville (25-10, 25-19, 25-15).

"I was happy with our play tonight," said Kelley Gregoriew, Allen head coach. "We had heard Lewisville would be pretty good and maybe they just struggled at times, but I really liked our serving and passing tonight."

Especially early on, the volume on court was consumed almost entirely By the Lady Eagles, who limited Lewisville to just two kills in the opening set en route the most lopsided of the three frames. Allen had plenty to be anxious about early as the squad accrued eight aces; five behind the serve of junior Kim Bell. The Lady Farmers failed to get a read on Bell's serve and as a result, fell into a hole that spanned as deep as 17-3.

"[Bell] has a pretty tough serve," Gregoriew said. "It's pretty hard to judge coming over; it travels a bit flat, so you're not sure where it's going. But one of our team goals was to limit our serving errors and we hit most of the calls made serving-wise."

With only kills courtesy of Portia Okafor and Kristyn Nicholson during the first set, the Lady Farmers didn't aid matters by committing 10 errors in the frame. Allen's offense took a moment to find its rhythm too, accounting for only two kills through its first 20 points before rounding out the set with three kills; the last a laser from senior Tori Bates that bounced off the outstretched arms of Ariel Brown.

"We had a different lineup tonight and I think some of the people out there were a bit shaky on it," said Jay Samide, Lewisville head coach. "I think a lot of it might have been nerves and being on the court for that first time in district."

The Lady Farmers' youth proved fodder for the seasoned Bates, who paced Allen with a game-high 11 kills.

The veteran outside hitter accrued four of those points in the final set where Allen put the kibosh on Lewisville's efforts, 25-15.

What started as a back-and-forth set turned sour for the Lady Farmers as a trio of unanswered attack errors put Lewisville down, 8-3, drawing a Samide timeout. The adjustments proved short-lived as Allen only expanded its cushion. Senior Ashley Hooper powered three of her five kills in the final set for Allen, while Lewisville responded with three kills apiece from the tandem of Brandi Nickelson and Tammy Leranth.

Nickelson paced Lewisville with six kills, while Leranth chipped in with five.

It wasn't enough to end Allen's surge though, as a kill by freshman Kaitlyn Blake matched Allen's largest lead at 24-14 before a Nickelson attack error completed the sweep.

"We just have to learn to talk more," Samide said. "That's the biggest thing right now; we like to play very quiet and volleyball is not a quiet game.

"In fact, it's a very loud one."

The two Allen-dominated sets bookended a second frame that proved Lewisville's most imposing of the contest.

Neither team led by more than three points until Allen pulled away at 18-14, as the Lady Farmers complemented three Nickelson kills with timely digs by Stevey Vaughn. The Lady Farmers mustered their first lead of the match at 6-5 following a double contact foul on Allen; a margin that stretched to 8-5 after a trio of Allen errors. The Lady Eagles battled back to an 8-8 tie behind a block assist by Blake and Hooper. Sophomore Camryn Freiberg and Bates handled the rest, combining for 10 of Allen's 13 kills.

"With Camyrn, we had some good connections on what we call our slide set," Gregoriew said. "There was good timing there, and for Tori it's definitely an improvement, plus the sets are now starting to be where they're supposed to be, which makes the hitters able to unload on the ball."

Back-to-back kills by Nickelson and Monisha Neal gave Lewisville life at 23-19, but two unanswered Allen points -- the last an Okafor attack error -- procured the victory for the Lady Eagles

Allen, now 1-1 in district, returns to the court Friday with a 7 p.m. road tilt against Plano East.

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