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Marathon Match: Lady Panthers outlast Allen in five
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@acnpapers.com
ALLEN -- For the third consecutive match, the Plano East volleyball team went the distance.
But Tuesday's duel at Allen wasn't akin to the Lady Panthers' five-set matchups with Flower Mound Marcus and Plano West. Action played well past 15 points, with 10 consecutive kills spanning the final 11 points and neither team going quietly into the night.
In the end though, that 11th point came in the form of an attack error that allowed East to breath easily in outlasting Allen, 3-2 (23-25, 25-17, 23-25, 25-16, 22-20).
"I'm proud of how mentally tough our girls were tonight."
The match's fifth set combined for 42 points, complete with 23 kills, 11 ties and a pair of lead changes.
East sat in front for the bulk of the set, only surrendering the lead following a block by Allen senior Ashley Hooper to knot the count at 15-15. The Lady Panthers trailed one point later after a net violation.
That lead was short-lived and regained following a pair of back-to-back kills by senior Nkiru Udenze, who netted six of her 18 kills in the final set.
"I was really nervous," Udenze said. "I was really off with my hitting, so I had to find other ways to contribute. I was nervous because you're thinking about what happens if you lose this and we needed the win badly."
Udenze was complemented by junior Kayla Burling, who posted a match-high 19 kills. Five of those attacks came in the fifth frame, including the Lady Panthers' final three kills to nudge the team ahead, 21-20.
An attack by Allen sophomore Camryn Freiburg sailed over the defense an out of bounds to clinch the East victory.
"They got one more kill," said Kelly Gregoriew, Allen head coach. "That's what it comes down to because the ball just kept going back and forth. We had opportunities and had the advantage more than once, but couldn't finish out."
The fifth set, like the four that preceded it, favored the Lady Panthers on the attack as East outhit Allen, 66-43, on the night.
The most advantageous of those totals came in the opening set, one that actually was procured by the Lady Eagles. Despite surrendering 17 kills, Allen capitalized on a slew of East errors to establish an 8-2 lead early on.
Clawing back to tie the count at 10-10 following a kill by sophomore McKenzie Shea, the Lady Panthers would never claim a lead in the as Allen distanced itself behind just three errors and a balanced attack that netted at least two kills for four players.
Junior Kelly Holden led Allen with 11 kills on the night, followed by nine from Freiburg and six from Hooper.
Hooper poured in four of her kills in the third set, also won by Allen. The Lady Eagles again found themselves on the down end of the kill totals, 14-11, but made up for it with timely serving late on aces from Freiburg and sophomore Hannah Walsh.
Despite opening up a 4-0 lead, East surrendered the cushion with a 4-0 run by Allen midway through the set to knot the count at 13-13. An attack error nudged the Lady Eagles in front and would eventually ring familiar in the end as a four-contact violation cost the Lady Panthers' the set for Allen's 25th point.
East wouldn't need to sweat out the second and fourth sets, though.
Nip and tuck halfway through the second stanza, East separated itself on a 5-0 run that included three Allen attack errors. Those too would carry over as after trailing 22-17, the Lady Eagles surrendered their final three points all on errors while again being outhit by East, 13-6.
"We started in one defense, which wasn't working," Gregoriew said. "Then we switched to another to help us pick up some of those balls. We expect the kids to be able to pick up more balls than they did tonight, though."
The Lady Eagles hit East point for point in the fourth set though, but committed 11 errors to East's five.
Taming Burling and Udenze to just two kills apiece in the fourth frame, the Lady Eagles still found themselves trailing by as many as 10 points late in the set. East chipped in points from all angles, be it an ace from Udenze, a block assist from Burling and junior Sammy Myers or just taking the easy points on a service error by Allen that capped the set.
The loss snapped a two-game winning streak by Allen and dropped the team back to 4-6 and seventh in District 8-5A. The Lady Eagles look to bounce back Friday at 7 p.m. at West.
For East, the win marked its third in four games, good for a 5-5 district mark and a three-way tie for fourth place between Plano Senior and West. A home outing against first-place Hebron on Friday awaits.
"Every game we're going into, it's 1-0 for that match," Jones said. "We've got to win this game and this one only. We're not looking at the next match or the overall totals; we have to win this one.
"We'll enjoy this win tonight but then it's back to work for Hebron on Friday."
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