ACC storms back to down Larks

It took a while for Allen Community College to figure things out strategically Wednesday evening.
“We knew what we wanted to do, but we still were letting Hesston play with us,” volleyball coach Jessica Peters said.
Hesston was doing more than staying even, using an assortment of tips and ACC errors to win two of the first three sets.
“We figured out that what had worked for us last time wasn’t working tonight,” Peters said, referring to the Red Devils’ conversion to a 5-1 offense earlier this week instead of their traditional 4-2. “We were able to clean things up and started playing the way we were capable of.”
Allen stormed back to claim the fourth and fifth sets, winning the tie-breaker in dominating fashion.
The 22-25, 25-18, 20-25, 25-13, 15-4 victory was ACC’s second in a row, and lifts Allen’s overall record to 6-7 (1-2 in Jayhawk Conference action; 2-2 in Region VI).
The Red Devils continue their homestand Friday and Saturday with the Allen Invitational at the Recreation Community Building at Riverside Park (see related schedule for details).

ONE OF THE keys to the win, Peters noted, was the Red Devils’ ability to develop — on their own — a strategy that worked.
To illustrate, Peters noted that Allen’s players huddled amongst themselves during every timeout over the last two games — both Red Devil wins.
“We didn’t have to tell them anything. I’m not sure if that’s good or I should be offended,” she joked.
But the sequence proved the Red Devils were capable of thinking quickly and adapting to Hesston’s strategy of going for tips at the net instead of kills.
Allen got off to quick starts in both of the first two games — zipping out to leads of 5-1 and 5-0, but had trouble sustaining that pace. Hesston came all the way back to take the lead for good at 17-16 in the first game, eventually winning 25-22.
The Red Devils withstood the barrage in game 2, pushing its lead to 18-7, and maintaining that advantage the rest of the way.
Hesston rebounded to take the third set, 25-20..

THEN CAME THE penultimate fourth game. Allen trailed 2-1 before corralling six points in a row, sparked by its hitters, Danielle Goodman, Sidney Keith and Lizzy Huey. The trio took turns coming up with crucial kills as the Red Devils seized control.
Another seven-point run later in the game gave Allen a 21-10 lead.
The run continued in the tie-breaker. Keith had four kills, while Huey had two and a block to end the match.
“Lizzy Huey, when given a ball tonight simply put it away, and we yet again saw a stellar performance from our outside hitters,” Peters said.
Peters also lauded the efforts of Andonae Magdziarz on the front line.
“That was huge for us, having her in the middle,” Peters said.
Goodman led the way with 19.5 points and 19 kills, followed by Keith with 20 points, 17 kills and four assisted blocks, and Huey with 16.5 points, 12 kills, one solo block and seven assisted blocks. Munoz added 11.5 points, eight kills, 47 set assists and two ace serves.