Dixon volleyball can’t catch up to Mendota

DIXON – Forced to play catch-up for most of the night Tuesday, the Dixon volleyball team did it well early on, but ran out of gas in the third set as Mendota won a Big Northern Conference match 28-30, 25-17, 25-21 at Lancaster Gym.

“We got a few energy plays and emotional plays in the first game, and some of our girls who were struggling finally came through,” Dixon coach Bunyan Cocar said. “I think we played overall pretty well, but we just kind of lost a few serve-receive things and a few plays we went flat and didn’t have that same energy, and then we had to rally with big-time energy to try and get back into it and just kind of ran out of time.”

The Duchesses (2-4, 2-1 BNC) trailed by as many as five in the first set, and were down by four at 23-19 before clawing back. An Addyson Kinn kill and block on back-to-back points, followed by consecutive Mendota hitting errors tied the set at 23-all.

Mendota retook the lead on a Jaelyn Fitzgerald kill to get to set point at 24-23, but a kill by Sam Tourtillott tied it at 24 and Chloe Hofilena’s roll shot found the court for a 25-24 Dixon lead.

The Spikers (6-0) got tip-kills from setter Ella Massey and hitter Bailey Baird for a 26-25 lead, but a net violation tied it at 26. After a Dixon serve went out of bounds, another net violation stymied that Mendota chance. Dixon’s Mallory Coley and Mendota’s Reanna Brant traded kills to tie the score 28-28, then Coley smacked another kill before serving an ace to close out the set for the Duchesses, who survived three set points before pulling it out.

“It’s all about matchups,” Cocar said. “When we had a good matchup we’d get a few points, then they’d sideout and they’d have a good matchup and they’d get a few points. It was just this back and forth, and you’ve got to find new and creative ways to sustain a run where it doesn’t give them the same look, and I thought we did that a few times.”

Mendota took control of the second set early, grabbing leads of 7-2 and 10-3 before leading by anywhere from nine to 11 points. Dixon staved off two more set points on a Coley kill and a Spikers hitting error, but a serve out of bounds gave Mendota the set and forced a third.

“We’ve lost the first game two or three times already, and every time we just go back in the huddle and we act like it’s no other game,” Mendota coach Nicci Gibson said. “I get back in the huddle and I say, ‘Girls, take a deep breath, we’ve been here before, this game is going to be no different than the last game, it’s just that we’re going to win this one.’ I’m relaxed, and they’re relaxed, and they know we’ve got to take care of business.

“We adjusted our passing. I think our serve receive the first game was just a little bit off, and that’s usually our strong point – and the girls know that. We just passed a little better and took care of the ball a little better.”

The third set was another tight one. Neither team led by more than three, and there were seven ties, the last at 18-18 after a kill by Tourtillott and a kill and block by Kinn.

A Brant kill and another perfectly placed dump kill by Massey, followed by a Dixon net violation and kills by Maya Martin and Baird gave Mendota a 23-18 lead, then Dixon’s Ainsley Govig and Martin traded kills to get the Spikers to match point at 24-19.

Again the Duchesses staved it off, with a kill by Coley and a block by Ella Govig, but a kill from Lauren Martin finally finished it off for Mendota.

“They are just this amazing group of girls who will just fight for each other day in and day out,” Gibson said of her Spikers. “Their culture and their chemistry, and their fight for each other is just unbelievable. It’s hard as a coach to even teach that; they just have it.

“And they just want to win for each other, so I think that is the huge part of coming back the second game and the third game, is that they just like to fight for each other and they want to win. They’re competitors, just a great group.”

Fitzgerald finished with 17 kills and two blocks, Massey stuffed the stat sheet with 30 assists, seven kills, five digs and two blocks, and Lauren Martin also had seven kills to go with 14 digs. Jenna O’Donnell added 10 digs, and Paige Manning chipped in seven digs and three kills for Mendota.

Coley led Dixon with 12 kills, and also had six digs. Kinn finished with 14 assists, four kills and five digs, Holli Miller also dished 14 assists, and Tourtillott had six kills and four digs. Ella Govig had three kills and five blocks, Ainsley Govig stuffed three blocks, and Elena Castillo-Wetzell (28 digs) and Hofilena (12 digs) led the Duchesses’ back-row defense.

“It definitely was fun,” Cocar said. “I like this environment; I was happy to have a crowd during spring break. What more can you ask? A conference game, a crowd, a back-and-forth game. We won the first one, and I wish we would have been more competitive that second one, because that puts a little more pressure on them – it’s that finality of losing if we would’ve played a little tighter that second game – and we might’ve had a different outcome.

“But hats off to Mendota. We just couldn’t hang with their middles. They’d just set them up there, and they’d hit nice and strong to the corners. But it was fun, a good game, and I’m happy to have played as well as we did.”