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Dublin loss evens Lady Buckaroos to 2-2 in district standings

Tue, 10/17/2017 - 3:31 pm

DUBLIN— The Breckenridge High School volleyball team will begin the second round of district play with a 2-2 record following last Friday’s loss to Dublin.

The Lady Buckaroos fell in four sets (25-17, 25-23, 22-25 and 25-19), which now has Breckenridge sitting at 2-2 and looking to separate themselves from the pack in the second round of 3A Region 1 District 6 play.

“What happened in the first set is really what happened in all four sets, we just couldn’t get anything down,” Breckenridge coach Jeana Yarbrough said. “They were little vacuum cleaners over there. They were laying out for stuff. They were digging stuff up. We could hardly ever find holes on the floor. They were just doing a great job of covering.”

The Lady Buckaroos began the first set with a pair of kills by sophomore outside hitter Madison Stanley, but with Dublin’s strong play on defense the Lady Buckaroos could not match the Lady Lions’ point production. Dublin eventually set up match point by a double digit margin before eventually taking the set 25-17. In the second set, the kills by Stanley, sophomore middle blocker Calista Lambert and sophomore libero Anna Reaugh gave Breckenridge a 6-1 lead, but as the Lady Buckaroos neared match point the Lady Lions rallied to lock the game 22-22 before taking the set 25-23.

“I can’t take anything away from Dublin,” Yarbrough said. “We played one of our best games offensively. Defensively, I thought they found some holes on our side of the floor that we did not find on their side of the floor. Sure, I’m disappointed but wow, Dublin was digging hard stuff, easy stuff. They played well.”

Facing a three-set sweep, the Lady Buckaroos traded points with the Lady Lions until kills by Stanley, Makenna and senior defensive specialist Aylin Saucedo allowed Breckenridge to pull ahead. The game ended on a dig by senior outside hitter Kelli Wilcox, whose return dropped just in front of the net. Breckenridge’s momentum came to a halt after that with Dublin jumping out to a 16-2 lead, which forced the Lady Buckaroos to play catch-up for the rest of the game. A Dublin return that ricocheted off of the scoreboard set up match point at 24-16, which the Lady Buckaroos held off until a net ball sealed the set and the game for the Lady Lions.

“We stepped up in game three and matched their intensity a little bit,” Yarbrough said. “... I said to them in the locker room ‘I’m proud of that effort at the end.’ For a minute, I thought we were going to come back and pull it out. They know what to do, we just had some mental errors from time to time and when we did we did it at crucial points.”

The Lady Buckaroos will begin the second round of district play 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Early, then remain on the road for a Saturday game against Bangs. Considering the Lady Buckaroos will see Dublin again in the regular season finale, junior outside hitter Grace Nicklas said her team must make great strides in improvement before they host Dublin for the rematch.

“They dig up every single thing. They do not let anything hit the floor and we need to be more like that,” Nicklas said. “Every single one of them breathes life into the team. None of them get angry or too down ... We have to improve our attitudes.”