All hands on deck: Dixon gets complete-team effort in road win over Newman

STERLING – Every Dixon player hit the stat sheet in some way, shape or form Thursday night, and the end result was a 25-12, 25-16 win over Rock River rival Newman in a nonconference match.

All 13 Duchesses played some part in the victory, and they found their rhythm in all three phases – passing, setting and hitting – to pull away in both sets.

“It’s so much more fun when we get everything working together, and it’s awesome when everyone gets to play,” junior hitter Izzy Queckboerner said. “It gives us a lot of energy when everybody can go out there and make a play, and that helps us connect and bond even more. We have a lot of energy on the court – and on our bus rides home – when we can play like we did tonight.”

[ Photos from Dixon at Newman volleyball ]

Seven different players recorded a kill or block at the net for Dixon (11-4), seven different Duchesses had at least one dig, and five players set an assist.

Serving was also a weapon for Dixon, as Queckboerner, Makenzie Toms, Leah Carlson, Morgan Hargrave and Solis Thompson all went on service runs of at least three straight points.

“A lot of our servers have upped their game on their service, and it’s gotten us a lot of points and a lot of momentum,” Carlson said. “It’s incredible that we can go on those runs. Serving and passing is the most important part of the game to get everything else going, and when you have both of them, you can dominate the entire game.”

Newman (2-15) led early on in both sets and were within two points as late as 9-7 in each set. But that’s when the Duchesses started to take control.

In the first set, kills by Mady Tichler and Hargrave and an ace from Queckboerner made it 12-7, then Tichler had a kill and a block around a spike by Newman’s before Toms stuffed a block to put Dixon up 21-9. Carlson had a pair of kills in the final five points to close the opener.

The Comets again played tough to start the second set, as Brooklyn Smith opened the set with an ace before later smashing a kill to get within 7-6.

“We came in the huddle right after the first game and we knew we didn’t want to give up. We always want to push through no matter what,” Smith said. “We tried to keep the conversation going, communicate on the court, and we brought what we could. I feel like we just talked really well in the huddle and pumped each other up.”

But a combo block by Tichler and Queckboerner stretched the Dixon lead to 12-8, then three straight points from Hargrave – the last one on a kill by Lucy Feick – made it 16-10. Amaya Gomez spiked a kill for Newman, but the Duchesses answered with a kill from Meredith Foulker and a block from Carlson.

Consecutive kills by Tichler and Foulker stretched the margin to 22-12, then Tichler sandwiched a kill between spikes by Newman’s Gomez and Lucy Oetting. Oetting added another kill to stave off the first match point, but Tichler answered with her final kill to end it.

“Consistency with our serves, our communication and our energy, that was the key,” Carlson said. “We stayed consistent the entire time. Once we got into a rhythm, the passing was perfect, and we had really good setter-hitter communication and connection, and that was one of our biggest things that helped us tonight.”

“It always takes us a minute to connect, but once we start talking, really start communicating, we really get good sets, good hits – and that gives us more energy,” Queckboerner added. “We hyped ourselves up as a team. A lot of times we don’t start with a lot of energy, but tonight I think we did. That was just what got us swinging harder and getting good blocks.”

Carlson stuffed the stat sheet with eight assists, five kills, six points, three digs and a block, while Tichler added six kills, five digs and two blocks. Queckboerner spiked four kills, stuffed two blocks and served an ace, Hargrave had 12 digs and six points, Foulker spiked three kills, and Feick stuffed two blocks.

Thompson had four digs and four points, Yui Santos chipped in five digs, Presley Lappin dished five assists, Caroline Childers added four assists, and Toms served two aces and stuffed a block. Micki Worrell finished with seven digs, and Emma Olson chipped in a pair of digs.

Smith led the Comets with 10 digs and seven assists, while Oetting had four kills and four digs. Gomez spiked two kills, Allyson McGinn and Blair Grennan each had four digs, and Burger and Marykay Downs each stuffed a block.

“We know this team pretty well, we know their players, and we just wanted to play well against them,” Smith said. “We knew they’re a good team, and we just felt like we needed to come out heavy because we have so many girls out [of the lineup] right now, and we just brought what we could to the court.

“They hit it very well, and it’s good for us to play against that. It helps us greatly. … Them coming out strong like that really helps us get our passes up and work on a lot of things.”