Volleyball: Dixon sets tone from start in nonconference win over Alleman

DIXON – From the start of Wednesday’s nonconference match at Lancaster Gym, the Dixon Duchesses set the tone from the service line in a 25-17, 25-13 win over Alleman.

Natalie Davidson served an ace for the first point, then after a tip-kill by Sydney Hargrave and a kill from Ella Govig gave Dixon a 3-2 lead, Joey Brumbly reeled off a pair of aces.

[ Photos from Dixon vs. Alleman volleyball ]

In all, five different Duchesses served aces in a balanced attack throughout the match.

“We try to come out strong, especially with the serves,” senior setter Hanna Lengquist said. “That first serve, you want to get it in right away, but you still want to be aggressive. We’ve been working a lot on serving, trying to get it going so we’re not missing serves, and also scoring on serves. We did a good job with that tonight.”

Dixon (7-3) also took advantage of some serve-receive and passing issues by Alleman (2-5), turning several free balls into kills, building big leads early on in both sets.

“It’s very important to us to come out strong, and we always want to try and get a big lead in the beginning so we can keep rolling with it, keep pushing,” senior setter Sydney Hargrave said. “I like being able to push it, and it’s great that I can trust all of my hitters to put the ball down and get us a kill. If I’m closer to the outside, I like being able to throw the set backward to throw the blockers off a little bit, and I know wherever I set it, we can get a point.”

Alleman got within 6-5 on a Audrey Erickson kill, then 9-7 on a Rhyca Fullerlove kill. But a back-row kill by Morgan Hargrave, then consecutive kills by Govig and another Davidson ace gave Dixon a 14-7 lead. After a roll shot landed for a kill by Govig, Brumbly spiked a kill before reeling off three straight points, the last one an ace, to make it 19-9.

A kill by Olivia Cox and three straight aces by Lengquist got the Duchesses to set point, then Sydney Hargrave set her sister Morgan for one final kill to end it.

“I feel like we can get going and play well when we get those wide point spreads early on. It really settles us in and sets the tone,” Lengquist said. “It’s such a great feeling that everyone works well together, and no matter where you put the ball, you can trust your hitters to get it down. You can also trust your defense if they get blocked, and it’s such an amazing feeling to have no worries about that.”

Dixon started the second set strong again, as Brumbly had two kills, then Sydney Hargrave served an ace before Morgan Hargrave’s dig found an open spot on the Alleman side for a 4-1 lead. Govig ripped a kill, then Sydney Hargrave tipped another kill before Elexa Varden stuffed a block and Lengquist served another ace for an 11-3 lead.

Leading 14-9, Dixon got a couple of points in Alleman errors, then Brunmbly spiked a kill and served an ace to stretch the margin to 18-10. Morgan Hargrave terminated twice off sets from Sydney to make it 21-12, then Varden answered a Clair Hulke kill with one of her own before Morgan Hargrave served an ace to end the match.

Even in the victory, the Duchesses were still looking to improve.

“We were able to get in system a little bit, but I think our passes could’ve been a little bit better and we could’ve gotten in system a little more like I’d like to,” Sydney Hargrave said. “I feel like we weren’t as focused as we could’ve been, but overall I think we did a pretty nice job, and I’m pretty happy that we won.”

Morgan Hargrave had six kills and six digs, Brumbly added four kills, eight points and four aces, and Govig also spiked four kills to go with five digs for Dixon. Sydney Hargrave dished eight assists and two tip-kills, Lengquist finished with nine points, four aces, six digs and three assists, and Davidson had 11 digs, four points and two aces. Varden had a kill and a block, and Cox also spiked a kill for the Duchesses.

Freshman Izzy Schneider led Alleman with two kills, Clair Hulke finished with two digs, two blocks and a kill, and freshman setter Megan Hulke dished six assists. Erickson, Fullerlove and Iris Reynolds each had a kill, Reynolds served three points, Sasha Cornillaud had four points and an ace, and Ashley Wood added two digs for the Pioneers.

“Today was definitely not indicative of how our program has looked so far. I think we came out not expecting as talented a team as Dixon has, and I respect their program; they’ve got a lot of athletes and they look really good,” Alleman coach Morgan DeBruine said. “I think we’re just really trying to work through mental challenges as the present moment. We weren’t playing to our ability, we were letting balls drop that we normally wouldn’t – I think we dropped 13 balls when our average is one.

“But we are absolutely working through it, and we have a lot of talent; I don’t think the girls have completely understand how talented they are and how worthy they are for the team. A lot of what we struggle with is encouraging each other when we’re not on the court, and when we’re not having our best day, we can’t pull ourselves out of it. We have the talent, we just didn’t show up today, but hopefully we can fix that quickly.”