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District difficulties: Allen loses second straight
BY Kevin Hageland, khageland@acnpapers.com
Allen has followed a strict loss-win pattern since the start of 8-5A play, so Tuesday's match should have been a victory.
District-leading Hebron had other ideas.
The Lady Hawks (5-1) remained tied for first place in 8-5A and dropped the Lady Eagles (2-4) into a tie for sixth with the win (25-10, 22-25, 25-15, 25-15). The loss represented Allen's first back-to-back defeats in district as the Lady Eagles were also on the wrong side of Friday's result against Flower Mound Marcus (25-19, 25-17, 27-25).
"It didn't look like we were very awake in that first game," said Kelley Gregoriew, Allen head coach. "We came out flat and they caught us off guard."
The Lady Eagles turned things around in Game 2 thanks to the usual suspects. Senior Tori Bates upped her play while senior Ashley Hooper and sophomore Camryn Freiberg also fortified the front line. Those contributions were important as Allen is still without 6-foot-1 freshman Kaitlyn Blake, who is injured.
Games 3 and 4 both featured 25-15 Hebron wins, but getting to those scores came about in different ways.
"Game 3 was just like watching Game 1; I thought that was just the losing side for the night," Gregoriew said. "But things were really back-and-forth early in Game 4. We had our chances, couldn't really take advantage and then they went on a run."
The loss gives Allen more ground to make up in the district standings and extra things to work on in practice.
"We are going to be focusing on our defense because that really hurt us tonight," Gregoriew said. "We did not dig well and that may have been because we also had some problems with our block and transition."
Having Blake back could assuage those problems.
"I hope we can get her back out there," Gregoriew said. "We lose some size when Kaitlyn is out, so we will try her out in practice and see if she is ready to get back on the court Friday."
Having a full compliment up front would be helpful as Friday's opponent, Flower Mound, brings its power from the outside. But then again, the Lady Jaguars have been bringing it from all angles en route to winning three straight matches, including Tuesday's sweep of Plano West.
"Flower Mound has got momentum and is playing well right now," Gregoriew said.
Friday's 6 p.m. contest will serve as Allen's Homecoming match, but also the end to the first half of district play for the Lady Eagles. A win will be crucial as it could push Allen back into a tie for fourth place and would leave the team no worse than a game back of a playoff spot at the turn. Whereas a loss would be the Lady Eagles' third straight and could drop them into seventh place in 8-5A.
"Friday's match is huge for us," Gregoriew said. "We've got to get that win and pull our way back into this playoff race."
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