EARLY – The Early Lady Horns defended their home court in Tuesday night’s volleyball season opener, upending the visiting Brownwood Lady Lions in four sets, 25-23, 25-6, 15-25, 25-17.

Early (1-0) – which narrowly missed the playoffs in District 8-3A last year after finishing in a tie for fourth place – was the sharper of the two squads Tuesday night.

“It was a great win,” said Lady Horns head coach Missy Vaughn. “The girls have really been working hard, we had great execution, and the girls came out ready to play. We had momentum from the first serve and it was awesome to see.”

Brownwood (0-1) – playing its season opener under new coach Kristen Grimes –looked like a team still trying to gain its footing in a different system for the 2025 campaign.

“There were some things I was pleased with, I just don’t think we were playing our volleyball,” Grimes said. “The adversity hit and we went back on our heels, we didn’t come back and attack. Early did a good job serving at us, and we want to be a passing team but that’s the area where we’ve struggled the most, and that was evident tonight. We had to rely on our outsides a lot tonight because we were out of system. Early played scrappy volleyball, it was something we weren’t expecting or ready for, so it caught us on our heels and took us three sets to adjust to their play.”

Early was led offensively by Jensyn Rasor with 11 kills, along with Aubrie Devillier with eight, Grey Pruett and Kailyn Gallardo with five apiece, and Ellie Shea and Cassidy Frerichs with one each.

Pruett dished out 17 assists followed by Frerichs with eight, while Pruett also served a team-best four aces trailed by Rasor and Tiffany Phelps with two apiece and Gallardo with one.

Defensively for the Lady Horns, Gabby Benson logged 18 digs along with 12 from Gallardo, 11 from Devillier, 10 from Pruett, seven from Frerichs, and one each from Rasor, Phelps, and Shea.

Rasor recorded Early’s lone block.

For Brownwood, Aniah Hines recorded a team-best 11 kills followed by seven from Hannah Deen, six from Demayha Hooker, two from Kaydence Chandler and one from Ashantia Green.

Icess Hall registered 22 assists while Jentry Coalson contributed two and Lanie Johnson chipped in one.

Deen led the way with three service aces while Hines and Johnson both finished with two and Chandler added one.

A back-and-forth opening set was tied at 20 when Early reeled off two points on a tip by Pruett and spike from Rasor. Brownwood knotted the score at 22 on an unforced error then a kill by Hines. A hitting error on Brownwood pushed Early in front, 23-22, and a tip from Rasor made the score 24-22. An Early service error gave Brownwood life, trailing 24-23, but the Lady Lions followed with a serving miscue of their own to give the Lady Lions the first set.

The Lady Horns then dominated the second set, scoring 13 of the first 14 points, and the Lady Lions trailed at one point, 19-2.

“That was fun,” Vaughn said of the second set. “The girls came out fired up. Their momentum transitioned over from the ending of the first set and they were really focused in.”

Brownwood backed bounced from an ugly second set to win the third by double digits. Tied at 2 early, a service error by the Lady Horns, a block from Chandler, and consecutive kills from Hines helped the Lady Lions grab a 6-3 advantage.

Though Early crept within a point multiple times, Brownwood maintained its lead, as a kill from Hines boosted the advantage to 14-12 and ignited an 8-2 run for the Lady Lions.

“We finally adjusted to what they were doing on their side, a lot of tipping, and it was like we’d never seen it before,” Grimes said of the Lady Lions’ third set. “By set three they were understanding where to go on defense for it, where to make the adjustments we were talking about the whole entire match. When we were able to do that, they didn’t put many balls down on us because of that.”

Early regrouped in the fourth set to finish off the victory, scoring six straight points at one juncture to open a commanding 11-5 advantage. The Lady Lions closed to within 14-13 on a kill by Chandler, but unforced errors again plagued Brownwood and a kill from Gallardo suddenly pushed the Lady Horns’ advantage to 19-13, capping a string of five consecutive points.

“The momentum shifted a bit in the third set, but we just talked about staying focused on what we needed to do on our side of the court,” Vaughn said of the fourth set. “We kept attacking the ball and we didn’t get away from our game plan.”

Early is back in action at the Brady tournament over the weekend, while Brownwood will compete in the Abilene Bev Ball Classic.

Regarding some of the positives in Brownwood’s performance, Grimes said, “We did some good things. When we’re in system I think our offense is starting to click. Icess did a great job when I threw her in setting 5-1, she did a good job running the offense. We really want to get our middles involved more so we don’t have to rely on our outsides as much.”

Looking ahead to tournament play this weekend, Grimes added, “I think any coach would say when it gets challenging to fight back. We kind of sunk in and wallowed in ourselves when we were struggling. We didn’t fight back, we let the other side determine how we were playing on our side rather than focusing on what we know how to do. Let them play their ball, we’ll play our ball.”