Floyd wins season opener in four sets

STAFF WRITER

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FLOYD — Last year when the Lady Broncos and Lady Coyotes met in volleyball, both contests ended in five-set victories by the visiting team. While the Tuesday night match between these Roosevelt County rivals didn’t go the distance, it was a competitive match, with Floyd coming away with a four-set victory, 11-25, 25-23, 25-17 and 25-20.

The first set did not go Floyd’s (1-0) way as Dora jumped to a 11-4 lead and never looked back, cruising to a 25-11 set win.

Staff photo: Matthew Asher

Floyd’s Desarae Lewis digs a Dora serve to prevent a Lady Coyote easy point in the second set of Tuesday’s match in Floyd. The Lady Broncos won in four sets.

“We controlled our serving and we were aggressive early,” Dora coach Arnold Peralez said. “I think we missed just one serve in the set.”

“I think the girls had first-game jitters,” Floyd coach Dawn Kuchta said of the issues in the first set. “It was the first home game and they felt out of sorts.”

Kuchta’s remedy for this was to literally have her players shake around to “shake off” the nerves.

“I think that helped them to laugh and break the ice a little bit,” she said. “Let them know it’s not over and we have a lot to play.”

Regardless of the science behind it, the shaking worked. In the second set, Floyd built a 19-15 lead but got careless, allowing Dora (0-2) to take a 21-20 lead. Kuchta called a time-out to rally her team, allowing them to tie the match with a 25-23 win.

From that point on it was all Lady Broncos as they finished the final two sets with decisive scores to secure their first win of the season.

“Floyd just did a good job of adjusting in the later sets,” Peralez said. “I think a lot of (our problems) was our miscues. In the final three sets we were put behind. Floyd did a good job of being aggressive. They capitalized on our mistakes.”

Kuchta agreed with Peralez’ thoughts on the final sets, noting she wanted her team to spend the match minimizing unforced errors, which they did throughout.

Despite the loss, Peralez was happy with his team’s overall effort.

“I thought our energy level was pretty high,” he said. “We moved well and tried to control things better than we did in our first match against Tatum. Even though we're 0-2, I feel like we're a better team.”

Dora has a quick turnaround as they travel to Grady today to take on the Lady Bronchos at 6:30 p.m. Floyd has an entire week to prepare for its next opponent, the Fort Sumner Vixens. The varsity game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 6 in Floyd.