CUMBERLAND — Allegany College was the better team down the stretch, and it was the difference in all three sets in Wednesday’s sweep of Garrett College at Bob Kirk Arena.
The Trojans (6-3, 5-3 NJCAA Region 20) won 25-22, 25-20 and 26-24.
“I was really proud of how we competed,” ACM head coach Joe Brewer said. “From the beginning to the end, especially that first game. We got down a little bit, I had to call both timeouts. I was proud of how we served. We’re really trying to serve tough and serve spots.”
In the first set, the Lakers (7-4 Region 20) took a 9-8 lead on a kill from Emma McCord off an assist by Chloe Heeter.
Heeter finished with 25 assists, two blocks and two kills.
Allegany out-scored Garrett 14-12 over the next stretch led by Ryan Whitehead’s (Mountain Ridge) consecutive aces along with an assist and a kill.
“I felt like we started with good momentum, but we fizzled out because we didn’t have the consistency to match it,” Garrett head coach Brittany Jackson said. “If you don’t have that consistency in your game, it’s going to be hard to beat teams.”
Makenna Conway (Mountain Ridge) recorded an ace that put the Trojans in front 22-21 for the first lead since 8-7.
A block by Autumn Hoppert (Bishop Walsh) set up game point which Nailevid Lorenzo-Lopez secured with an ace.
Allegany controlled most of the second set, but Garrett kept the margin within three or four points.
Trailing 20-15, the Lakers went on a 5-2 run to get within 22-20.
Addison Miller recorded back-to-back kills to clinch the set for the Trojans.
“It came down to our serving tonight,” Brewer said. “We were able to minimize our serves to the libero who’s a very good player. We were able to get the other ones involved, just by getting them out of system, we were able to run our offense.”
Garrett led for about half of the third set, but Allegany kept the margin within five points.
“When we called timeouts and I’m just like, if you want this game, you have to earn it and win it,” Jackson said. “Then we’d come out and respond big, but we would get complacent and they’d creep back in on us.”
Conway and Whitehead teamed up for consecutive kills that gave the Trojans a 13-12 lead.
The former Miners each recorded double-doubles.
Conway finished with 23 assists, 15 digs and an ace while Whitehead recorded 10 kills, 11 digs and three aces.
Conway assisted on seven of Whitehead’s 10 kills.
“I think Makenna has a lot of confidence in Ryan, so she knows she can put it out there,” Brewer said. “She knows where to put it for Ryan to have a good hit.”
An error two plays later gave ACM the lead for good, but the Lakers continued to stay within three points.
A block from Cieerra Shoop cut Garrett’s deficit to 22-21, then a few plays later, another block by Mia Barios cut the margin to 24-23.
“If we wanna win this, if we’re going to five, you gotta step up and do it right now,” Jackson said. “Again, I think they were stepping up, but they also kinda got a little in their head. That urgency to wanna win the points and get back is what killed us. One of our timeouts, I didn’t want to say play careful, because that’s when we hesitate. But we need to play our level of volleyball we showed we can do.”
Barios posted 10 kills and three blocks while Shoop recorded three kills, two blocks and two aces.
Conway and Lorenzo-Lopez teamed up for a kill to set up match point, then the duo clinched the sweep on a tap-over kill at the net from Lorenzo-Lopez.
Lorenzo-Lopez contributed 12 kills, eight digs and six aces.
Garrett was coming off arguably its biggest win in program history, sweeping the two-time defending Region 20 champion Harford on Saturday.
The Fighting Owls have played in the last two national tournaments and are 70-20 overall since 2022.
“That was a huge win because that showed the kind of team we could be and the play that we can hold ourselves to,” Jackson said. “But I will say, the team that played today was not the same team that played against Harford. That was the biggest difference. If we showed up like we did there, it would’ve been a different match.”
Both teams play in a tri-match on Saturday.
The Trojans head to Howard to face Cecil at 10 a.m. and Howard at noon.
The Lakers travel to Frederick to play Southern Maryland at 10 a.m. and Frederick at 3 p.m.
“We knew Garrett was very dangerous,” Brewer said. “If we kept them in system and we didn’t attack on our side, it was gonna be a struggle tonight. We were able to get them out of system through serving and our attacks. That allowed us to win points.”