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Trying something new: West works on playoff skills in sweep of McKinney
Kelsey Kruzich / Staff Photo
By Andrew Snyder, asnyder@starlocalnews.com
Plano West volleyball turned its attention to the playoffs Tuesday night in a sweep of McKinney (25-20, 25-19, 25-21) that saw the Lady Wolves introduce new strategies geared toward refining play before do-or-die contests commence.
“We’re trying to do a couple new things before we head into the playoffs, as far as speeding up our offense a bit,” said Brittany Bridge, West head coach. “We had a few awkward moments because we’re trying to do some new stuff at the end of district. We were running various plays, so it’s trying to train your setters and your hitters to be in different spots and be ready to hit different things when normally they’re making their own call and playing kind of a transition ball instead of running a set play.”
McKinney (0-8 in district) kept pace early and remained tied with West (5-3) as late as 17-17 in the first set before the Lady Wolves rattled off seven-unanswered points.
The Lady Wolves jumped to an early lead in the second set on consecutive kills from senior Julia DeVinney, but remained tied with McKinney as late as 7-7 in the game before a 7-1 rally built on strong serve-receive play as well as aces from junior Morgan MacGilvary and senior Abigail Curry pushed them ahead for good. The Lady Wolves maintained at least a four-point advantage the remainder of the set.
The game-winning kill was provided by senior Brooke Coleman, who had a strong all-around performance with 11 kills, 10 digs and 21 assists. MacGilvary had 10 kills on the match, while DeVinney provided nine kills in expanded playing time.
“Julia hasn’t been playing for a while, so she really stepped up and played well,” Bridge said. “It’s good to see some new players get in there and hopefully, when we get in the playoffs, we’ll have more than one hitter that is firing on all cylinders.”
McKinney came out firing in the third set, jumping to a 5-1 lead on a trio of aces from Anna Robertson, but the Lady Wolves chipped away at the deficit thanks to a strong defensive performance from senior libero Shane Peters – who had 28 digs on the night.
West took its first lead at 12-11 following a kill from MacGilvary.
West couldn’t get much separation from McKinney though, and the Lionettes kept within two points or fewer of the lead. That is until a four-point run from the Lady Wolves pushed them ahead, 21-15, and set up for the sweep, which was finalized on a kill from Coleman.
It was too little too late for the Lady Wolves though as playing their worst set to close the match bought them a few trips running across the court before huddling up for a post-game talk and heading for the bus.
“In the last game, I told them I wanted the score to be 25-16 and it was 25-21,” Bridge said, “so they were running for not accomplishing the goal I set forth.”
With the win, West remains in third place in 10-5A with two matches to play and a two-match cushion over Plano East and Allen, which are tied for fourth (3-5). The Lady Wolves could move into a tie for second Friday night when they host Plano Senior at 6 p.m. McKinney is on the road against Allen at the same time.
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