Volleyball: Duchesses start hot, roll late on senior night

DIXON – Closing out the regular season on its home court, Dixon set the tone early on senior night in a 25-16, 25-19 win over Winnebago.

Everybody got in the match and everybody made a play to help the cause for the Duchesses (20-13, 7-2 Big Northern Conference) as they led by double digits in both sets.

[ Photos of Dixon vs. Winnebago volleyball ]

“It’s good to know that everybody can do their job well, and it’s good to have that depth,” junior Morgan Hargrave said. “The coaches always talk about being ready, being prepared. Everybody works their butt off in practice, so I think it’s really good to know that we can all make plays to help the team.

“We just tried to play together, play well for one of the seniors’ last games here. We stayed even-keel, celebrated every point and just enjoyed being out there, and we were just having fun.”

Senior Mady Tichler spiked back-to-back kills, then Izzy Queckboerner stuffed a block and senior Makenzie Toms served an ace before Tichler added two more kills and a block and Queckboerner had another block as the Duchesses jumped out to a 12-1 lead in the opening set.

“We definitely wanted to start fast. We had a lot of energy, and we didn’t want to go in too confident or emotional with it being senior night,” Toms said. “We just came out and there was energy right away, and we knew we had to cheer for every single point, just lift everybody up.”

Winnebago answered with a huge rally, cutting the deficit to 19-15. Anna Hartmann and Laurana Freeman each had two kills and an ace in the surge, Carmen Williamson added a block, and Freeman’s second ace cut it to four.

But Leah Carlson served consecutive aces for Dixon, then Tichler and Queckboerner had kills before another Toms ace to finish it off.

“I loved the start, because all the seniors got to play together and we didn’t let our emotions get to us at the beginning of the game. Yeah, we let them come back, but it felt amazing to win with all the seniors,” Tichler said. “It’s a lot more difficult to go from under to up, because people are getting in their heads and they don’t perform as well as they’re able to. So we moved some people a few times and we changed the lineup in the second game, and it gave us a spark.”

The second set was almost a carbon copy of the first. Hargrave had three aces in the first five points, and Tichler and Toms each had a kill as the Duchesses jumped out to a 7-0 lead. But the Indians got back in it, as Freeman had two kills and an ace, Avery Miley served an ace, and Hannah Bertram and Olivia Johnson each ripped a kill to cut it to 12-9.

“We were running some plays and trying to utilize the hitters that we have, just working really hard to get the ball up. It starts with the pass, and that’s what we did well in those stretches,” Winnebago coach Kylie Gray said. “It’s been on and off for us, but the last few games we’ve played well.”

Back-to-back kills by Hargrave, a Solis Thompson ace, a Toms kill and a Hargrave ace pushed the lead back to 20-10. Tichler bookended a four-point Winnebago run with kills, then Hargrave ripped a kill to get to match point. A Winnebago service error ended it three points later.

“It’s been really comforting to know we can bounce back, and we’ve shown our resilience over a couple different games so far this season, so we know we can come back if we get down or the other team goes on a run,” Toms said. “We have to keep the energy up and keep cheering for everybody and make sure we stay out of our heads.”

Dixon’s serving became a big weapon again, as Toms, Hargrave, Carlson and Thompson had aces, and Tichler, Presley Lappin and senior Caroline Childers also took the Indians out of system with aggressive serves.

“A big part of the game is serve and receive, and if you can’t do those two things, it’ll set you pretty far back in the game. So to be able to do that is really crucial,” Toms said. “We work on serving all the time, and we’ve been working on it a lot more recently, and it’s been pretty strong.”

Tichler had 10 kills, two blocks and two digs, Carlson added 13 assists, three kills, two digs, two aces and a block, and Hargrave had 12 digs, six kills, eight points, four aces and a block for Dixon. Queckboerner finished with three kills and three blocks, Toms had 11 points, two aces, two kills, two blocks and four digs, and Yui Santos added six digs. Lappin dished five assists, Childers added three more, Thompson had five points, four digs, two blocks and an ace, and Emma Olson chipped in three digs for the Duchesses, who host the Class 3A regional at Lancaster Gym next week.

Hartmann had five kills, seven points and two aces, and Freeman finished with three kills, four points and three aces for Winnebago. Aubrey Eklund dished 11 assists, Miley served five points, and Johnson chipped in three kills.