Volleyball: Genoa-Kingston’s Pierce too much for Dixon in straight-set loss

DIXON – Early in Thursday night’s Big Northern Conference matchup between Genoa-Kingston and Dixon, the Cogs had the clear upper hand, scoring 20 combined points off aces (8) and kills (12) in the first set alone.

In the second set, the Duchesses (16-8) were in control early, but G-K rallied from an eight-point deficit to close out a 25-13, 25-19 victory.

[ Photos from Dixon vs. Genoa-Kingston volleyball ]

“First of all, Genoa-Kingston is everything they’re advertised to be. They are good everywhere, but we did a few things to make them change some of their personnel,” Dixon coach Bunyan Cocar said. “The setter didn’t dump on us as much as I thought she might. We picked it up, and she missed a couple. But No. 16 [Alayna Pierce] won the game for them. She is fantastic, and we just couldn’t catch up to the speed of that, but we touched it a few times. But back row, front row, she was their offense. Everything else they did, we were somewhat able to contain. We couldn’t contain No. 16. So hats off to her, she won the game for them.”

The Cogs (25-2) wasted no time setting the tone, grabbing a 7-3 lead early in the first set on back-to-back aces from Mia Wise; Pierce spiked back-to-back kills, then Alivia Keegan served ace to stretch the lead to 11-6. When the margin reached 14-8, Dixon used its first timeout.

After the brief stoppage in play, Pierce hammered two more kills, then the Duchesses went on a run of their own, pulling within 16-12. It would be short-lived, however.

Once Dixon cut the margin to four points, Pierce surged again, spiking three straight kills for a 19-12 lead. From there, it was a 6-1 run to close out the set win. Pierce crushed another kill for the 24th point, then Keegan served an ace to close out the 25-13 win.

“I definitely think we didn’t have a strong enough start,” Dixon’s Ella Govig said. “If we came out how we did in the second game, if we did that in the first game, I feel like we would’ve been able to build up the momentum and the energy, but we just didn’t bring that tonight against them.”

In the second set, the Duchesses showed much more fight. Morgan Hargrave spiked a kill for a 7-2 Dixon lead, and Govig led a mid-set surge, hammering two kills and blocking a shot to bring it to 12-6. A Joey Brumbly block and a Genoa-Kingston hitting error pushed it to 14-6, but the Cogs refused to go away.

“Just looking to see where their holes were, but after we adjusted to what they had done, they adjusted again, and we just couldn’t figure out how to readjust after that,” Govig said. “That’s what beat us in the end, but it’s just high-level volleyball. We’re still learning, but we’re going to be there during postseason, so I’m not too scared. But they’re a really good team.”

Applying pressure with strong serves and rallies, G-K battled back to a 16-14 deficit, prompting a Duchesses timeout. From there, the Cogs could hardly be stopped.

Pierce crushed consecutive kills to knot the game at 16-16, then Keegan spiked the go-ahead point for a 17-16 G-K lead. A Rylie Stoffregen kill moved the margin to 23-19, and a Lily Mueller spike ended the match with a 25-19 set win.

“We played timid the first set, and we got some good passes. I said, ‘We have to swing, we have to play defense.’ Our front row needs to recognize what they’re doing and call it out, so we can pick up some shots that they hit,” Cocar said. “And we got some digs and we transferred that to points. A couple of balls went our way, so we got a nice lead, but they were really disciplined. They picked us apart a little bit. And they just found No. 16 wherever she was. Hats off to them.”

Pierce finished with 13 kills, Mueller spiked seven kills, and Keegan served four aces and hammered two kills for the Cogs.

Leaders for the Duchesses were Govig with three kills and three blocks, Morgan Hargrave with four kills and eight digs, and Natalie Davidson with 12 digs. Brumbly added four digs and one block for Dixon.