Volleyball: McQueen rallies for win vs. Lady Tigers in home-opener

Douglas fans got their first view of the rebuilding Tiger volleyball program Thursday night.

While the Lady Tigers showed plenty of promise for greater things to come, they also showed plenty of room to grow.

The 10th-ranked McQueen Lancers handed the Tigers their first loss at home in nearly two years, coming back from a 2-0 deficit to win 16-25, 22-25, 25-19, 25-22, 15-12 and end Douglas' home win streak at 14.

Whittell was the last team to defeat Douglas at home, picking up a statement victory on Sept. 13, 2004 that catapaulted the Warriors into the mix with the state's elite volleyball programs.

Thursday night, Douglas trotted out a starting lineup that featured a new face at every single position on the floor. The only returning starter, Bridget Maestretti, has made the shift from defensive specialist to middle blocker this season.

The new cast of characters was impressive early.

After McQueen opened the match with two consecutive kills, Douglas setter Megan Mitchell found Danielle Brown on the outside for the Tigers' first point.

Douglas followed that with two consecutive errors, which pushed McQueen's lead to 4-1 but sophomore Jessica Waggoner hammered home an impressive kill to launch a 13-3 run for the Tigers.

Mitchell found senior Alex Risko on the outside for two kills during the run and senior Ali Witteman had an ace during the run as well.

Brown and Waggoner teamed up for several tough blocks during the first game and Mitchell distributed four more assists to go with a kill of her own.

McQueen put together a small rally of its own in game one, cutting a 15-8 deficit to 17-14 with an aggressive attack at the net. Douglas recovered with a 7-2 run to close out the game, highlighted by two Brown aces to put it away.

The teams traded points evenly through the opening of the second game before Risko made the play of the match, chasing down an errant pass to make a leaping, one-handed save with her back to the net. She hit the ball just inches in front of the Tiger bench and it snuck just inside the antenna to the Lancer side. McQueen was unable to return the shot.

The play gave Douglas a good dose of momentum to work with as it tied up the score at 8-8.

Brown followed with a kill off of a Mitchell assist, McQueen got called for two net faults and Maestretti delivered an ace to push Douglas' lead to 12-9.

Witteman later added two more aces to put the Tigers up 17-11 and Waggoner and Risko each followed with a kill for a 19-11 lead.

Douglas then suffered one of several costly mental lapses, committing errors on the next four points, allowing McQueen to crawl back into the game at 19-15.

The Lancers continued to scrap their way back into the game before Douglas was finally able to end it with a kill from Maestretti off an assist from Mitchell, good enough for a 25-22 win.

Douglas continued to struggle in its defensive game and McQueen stepped up its attack, leading to a 25-19 win for the Lancers in the third game.

The Lancers again traded points evenly with the Tigers before picking up a 25-22 victory in the fourth and finished off the win with a 15-12 fifth.

Libero Mary Lombino was solid for the Tigers and Megan Myers and Taryn Williams each made contibutions off the bench for the Tigers.

The match as a whole was remarkably similar to the teams' 2004 first-round playoff meeting, which went five hotly-contested games before Douglas pulled away with the win.

McQueen surprised the Lady Tigers at the start of last season, taking a four-game win in Reno.

Douglas (5-2 overall), ranked No. 4 in the region by the Sierra Nevada Sports Media Poll, heads to a tournament at Galena this weekend and will resume its home slate against rival Carson Tuesday at 6 p.m.

-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.