Ben Whitehead
The Duncan Banner
DUNCAN —
Having played Lawton once at the Cameron Tournament earlier this season, the Duncan volleyball had somewhat of an idea what it’d be up against Tuesday night.
After the first set, however, the Lady Demons were in a position they hadn’t been in all season. They were losing on their home court.
The No. 7-ranked Lady Demons dug down deep after falling in the first set 22-25 to win the next three and take the match from Lawton 3-1. Duncan improved to 9-2 with the win.
“Lawton played really well today, much better than when we played them in the Cameron Tournament,” Duncan head coach Randi Pawpa said. “It was good for us to go a little bit longer. We don’t want to drop a game, but we got some practice in and had to play through their long runs.”
Duncan went on two big runs toward the end of the second and third sets to pull away.
Leading 16-14 in the second set, the Lady Demons scored five of the next eight points to go up 21-17 before finishing the set out 25-18.
In the third set, DHS and Lawton were tied at 16, but the Lady Demons took control by winning the next three points. Lawton roared right back to tie it again at 19, but Duncan went up 23-19. LHS got within one point at 23-22 before the Lady Demons won the next two points to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
For a while, it looked like Duncan would run away with the fourth set, but the Lady Wolverines had other plans. Trailing 17-11, Lawton fought back to win seven of the next eight points to tie the set at 18. LHS took a 21-19 lead and reached the 23-point mark, looking to force a fifth set tiebreaker.
Duncan got back on serve with Kaley Neal leading the charge and tying the set at 23. Bree Fritschow finished the Lady Wolverines off with two spikes to send the Duncan faithful home happy.
“We all played well as a team,” said Pawpa. “Different people stepped up at different times. That’s key, especially when things aren’t going your way.”
Neal finished the match with four kills and three aces. Fritschow had 11 kills, six aces and three digs. Setter Kathryn Jeffords had 21 assists and three digs while Taylor Spradlin finished with seven kills.
The Lady Demons will travel to the Cache Tournament on Saturday. Pawpa said Lawton and Cache are on the same side as Duncan and she’s looking forward to the competition this weekend.
“There’ll be some good teams, obviously. Cache beat us in the Cameron Tournament finals, so we’re looking forward to playing them again,” she said. “Lawton will be there and we’ll get another chance at them. This is the toughest stretch of our schedule, so it’ll be interesting to see how the girls respond.”
Duncan’s JV beat Lawton’s JV in two sets, winning the first 25-7 and the second 25-11. The freshman team lost in three sets 25-19, 5-25 and 11-15.
— Ben Whitehead is the sports editor for The Duncan Banner. He can be reached at 255-5354, Ext. 165, or via e-mail at ben.whitehead@duncanbanner.com.
