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Homeward bound: Lady Bulldogs sweep Sherman to close opening round of district
Photo courtesy of Craig Engle
By Andrew Snyder, asnyder@starlocalnews.com
SHERMAN—The McKinney North volleyball team closed the first half of district Friday with a three-set sweep of Sherman (25-18, 25-21, 25-17). The win keeps the Lady Bulldogs within the playoff hunt heading into the home-heavy stretch of matches that make up the rest of their schedule.
“It was a much-needed win, especially going into the second half of district,” said Shannon Alvarado, North head volleyball coach.
After playing the bulk of their initial district matches on the road, the Lady Bulldogs (3-4 in district) will spend most of the second half in the friendly confines of their own court, where they'll host five of their final seven district matches.
North was up 23-13 and cruising before Sherman picked up seven unanswered points to tighten the match back up, the bulk of which came from Lady Bulldogs errors. But with its 10-point lead cut to just three, North regained its composure and closed out on a Sherman hitting error and a kill from junior middle blocker Melissa Nichols.
The Lady Bulldogs picked up a new skill in the process.
“We're still trying to figure out how to be ahead,” Alvarado said, “because we didn't get that experience last year. We weren't ahead last year, so it's still a learning process for us to finish when we're ahead. I think we stayed competitive the whole time, we're just not sure how to close sometimes.”
The third set played out much the same way, with North dominating most of the way before ceding ground to Sherman toward the end. The Lady Bulldogs again jumped ahead early and pushed their lead into the 10-point range, reaching a high of 18-8. True to form, the Lady Bearcats went on another run, cutting their deficit to 20-15, but this time North never let them pull closer than five points.
The Lady Bulldogs closed out on consecutive kills from senior outside hitter Allison Camp to notch their second district sweep. Camp joined junior outside hitter Courtney Kankel and sophomore setter Lindsey Denne, who was making her first varsity start, as top performers for North.
“[Denne] did a great job running the floor,” Alvarado said.
North also swept Denison and won a five-set match against Wylie East during the first half of district. To reach the playoffs, Alvarado said her team will need to win at least four more matches, though five would put them in a more comfortable position.
The Lady Bulldogs will look to get started on that Tuesday when they host Greenville – who beat them 1-3 in their first meeting – at 6:30 p.m. for the first of three consecutive home matches. That stretch also includes showdowns against Royce City and Wylie East.
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