Coming off a 13-23 campaign in 2024 – more victories than the previous two seasons combined – the Brownwood Lady Lions volleyball team is setting its sights on a return to the playoffs for the first time since 2021 as Kristen Grimes takes the reins as head coach.

The Lady Lions – who scrimmaged Bronte, Clyde and Wall in San Angelo Friday – open the 2025 regular season at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday when they visit the Early Lady Horns. Grimes on Monday spoke about what she liked and what needs improvement based on Brownwood’s only scrimmages of the preseason.

“The things I liked were that we were trying to implement a few things that are a little different than what they’ve seen and they’re working really hard to put those things together and do what I’m asking them to do,” Grimes said. “We talked before about we’re going to be an aggressive serving team and I thought we’re getting better at being more aggressive and less scared to miss. I want them to be aggressive now so when it counts we’re where we need to be. The energy was also really high on Friday, which is something I was excited about. We talked about being engaged whether you’re on the court or off the court and everybody did a really great job with that.

“We did struggle with some areas on Friday but they continued to keep their energy high. We’re still trying to get our offense to click. We’re running a faster offense so there’s always going to be some errors when you start a season with a faster offense because we’re working on connections with our setters and our hitters. We’re going to be a ball control team and passing, serve receive and defense was a bit rocky. We’re still working on that ball control aspect and I want to see that improve as well.”

Brownwood returns a nucleus of first-team all-district selection Aniah Hines, honorable mention recipients Hannah Deen and Icess Hall, as well as Maddi Scott, Sara Stubblefield, Lanie Johnson, Jentry Coalson, and Demayha Hooker.

“They’ve done a really great job of accepting all the changes that I’ve been making,” Grimes said of the returnees. “My coaching might be different from what they’ve seen and they’re really on board with what I’m telling them, but I’m also trying to keep some things that they may have done the last year or two so they have some ownership of the team and it’s not just a brand new slate. I’m giving them responsibilities and allowing them to be leaders and showing the rest of the program that they are leaders. I want them to continue to have the buy in and have that trickle down to the rest of the program.”

Newcomers to keep an eye on this season include junior transfer Camryn Gipson, junior Addy Huerta, sophomores Kaydence Chandler and Grace Sparks, and freshmen Bellah Stokes and Ashantia Green.

“Kaydence is a sophomore playing in the middle,” Grimes said. “She is working her tail off at everything I’m asking her to do and I’m super excited to get her out there and see how she does in upcoming matches. Camryn is new to the team this year, a lefty, so we’re trying to get her in sync with our setters. Grace and Addy are fighting for playing time at DS. We have quite a few of those and when they get on the court they’re trying to be effective when they can. And we have the two freshmen on the varsity and it’s a different pace than they’ve seen. They’re trying to catch up and play at the pace varsity plays at.”

Following Tuesday’s opener at Early, the Lady Lions’ non-district slate includes the Abilene Bev Ball Classic this weekend, the home opener against Lampasas (Aug. 19), the Heart of Texas tournament in Brownwood (Aug. 21-23), a trip to Llano (Aug. 26), the Albany tournament (28-30), at Sweetwater (Sept. 2), home against Wall (Sept. 5), at Brady (Sept. 9), at Abilene High (Sept. 12), and at Abilene Cooper (Sept. 19).

Regarding the goals between now and the District 6-4A opener for the Lady Lions, Grimes said, “Going back to ball control and being aggressive, I want them to take off with that and continue to work on that and be disciplined. On Friday, as soon as we hit adversity or started to struggle they reverted back to their old ways. I really want them to buy in and stick with it, and I think they all know it will work, but when we struggle I have to tell them to stay disciplined and keep working it and we will get to where we need to be when we need to be there. We don’t have to be rock stars right now, we need to be rock stars when we get to district.”

The 6-4A slate starts Sept. 23 at Graham followed by a Sept. 26 home date with Brock, trips to Glen Rose Sept. 30 and Mineral Wells Oct. 3, and the first half of district ends at home against Stephenville Oct. 7. The second half of league play features Graham at Warren Gym on Oct. 10, a trip to Brock Oct. 14, back-to-back home matches with Glen Rose Oct. 17 and Mineral Wells Oct. 21, and the regular season finale Oct. 24 at Stephenville.