Floyd sweeps San Jon

STAFF WRITER

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FLOYD — It wasn’t pretty, but the Lady Broncos got on a winning path Tuesday night after sweeping Class 4-1A San Jon 25-15, 25-22, 25-14.

Floyd (4-7, 2-4 district) did itself no favors throughout the match as the Lady Broncos had to fight back from a deficit in all three sets to deny San Jon (0-15, 0-6) its first win of the season. In the first two sets, Floyd had trouble getting any offensive points as they went through three servers in the first set and four in the second set before the Lady Broncos recorded their first service point of their respective sets.

Staff photo: Matthew Asher

Floyd senior Desarae Lewis loads up for a hit in the first set while teammate Ch’ree Essary, 12, looks at the pass she set up. The kill was successful and Floyd won in straight sets.

“I’ve always told my girls it’s so important to get that first serve,” Floyd coach Dawn Kuchta said. “It’s hard. When we don’t we fall apart so we have to get that serve.”

After falling behind 3-6 in the first set, Floyd fought back to tie the game at nine and then took a stranglehold on the set when senior Desarae Lewis scored three-straight service aces before siding out, giving the Broncos a commanding 20-13 lead, which they would easily finish.

Floyd took a 21-15 lead in the second set and looked to easily take the second set from the Lady Coyotes. But then San Jon eighth-grader Aleena Quintana got the ball and used her knuckleball-like serve to notch five straight service points. Kuchta called a time-out at 21-20 to regroup the team.

“We weren’t moving and weren’t ready,” Kuchta said of those five straight points. “We have a step 1, 2 and 3 when it comes to approaches for our serve receive. They weren’t doing that. They would freak out when the ball came right at them. I just told them they needed to step back (before the serve) and move forward to pass the ball.”

Quintana’s magic ran out, but the Lady Coyotes weren’t about to give up as they started out the third set up 4-0. This set, Floyd finally got their serves to go in bounds as they tied the game up at five and following senior Lorena Valdivia’s three service points, Floyd was sitting comfortable up 19-10. Valdivia was shocked to get the serving opportunities as she doesn’t play in that many games, but was up to the task tonight.

“I was really nervous because I never serve,” Valdivia said. “They forgot to sub me out. I was pretty excited because I had my serves over (the net). My hands were cold and shaky. When they ball went over, it was a good feeling.”

Kuchta wasn’t pleased with the way her team won the match, but she said she’ll take it regardless.

“We have a lot of work still,” Kuchta said. “We’re not where we want to be. We’re up and down like crazy. It’s baby steps. One game at a time is what we’re doing.”

Floyd stays home next match and will host Clovis Christian this Saturday at 5 p.m.