The Brownwood Lady Lions won their first four matches of the Heart of Texas volleyball tournament over the weekend before being upended by the undefeated Early Lady Horns in Saturday’s gold bracket championship match.
The weekend performance has evened Brownwood’s overall record at 6-6.
“We’ve been putting in a lot of work in the gym, really focusing on working as a team and building each other up during matches,” said Lady Lions second-year head coach Kristen Grimes. “I told them we’re playing some good volleyball, we’re digging volleyballs we weren’t digging this time last year, we’re passing well compared to last year. I don’t always want to compare us to last year, but we’re building something here so it’s nice to look back and see where we were at this time last year and how much we’ve grown.”
After sweeping, Bangs, Brady and Richland Springs Thursday, the Lady Lions pushed their win streak to four with a 25-20, 25-19 victory over Coleman.
Brownwood trailed 19-18 late in the initial set, but a kill from Kimber McLean evened the score and triggered a 7-1 closing run for the Lady Lions. Kaydence Chandler served an ace and Demayha Hooker recorded on a pair of kills down the stretch for the Lady Lions.
The second set was again back and forth, and with the score even at 17, a kill from Chandler began a run of five straight points that allowed Brownwood to seize a 22-17 advantage. A block from Chandler and a kill by Lexi Driskill were also figured into the decisive surge.
“We controlled our side of the court, our side of the net, and played our volleyball, we didn’t worry about the other side,” Grimes said. “We also passed the ball really well, which helped. We’ve got good hitters, and when we pass well we can use all of them and keep the other teams on their toes.”
In the championship match, the Lady Lions faced Early for the second time this season, and the Lady Horns again emerged victorious, 25-12, 25-18.
Tied at 5 in the opening set after a kill by Driskill, the Lady Lions witnessed Early score nine of the next 10 points to grab a 14-6 advantage. Brownwood never threatened again the remainder of the set.
In the second set, the Lady Lions may have played their best volleyball of the season. Brownwood was able to grab a 13-10 advantage at one point, thanks to a 4-0 run that featured an Adyn Lucas kill and a Chandler block for points.
The score was tied at 13, 14, 15 and 16, and the Lady Lions took their final lead – 17-16 – on a kill by Hooker. Early, however, responded with the next eight points for a 24-17 cushion en route to its 12th straight victory.
“We didn’t pass very well that first match, and when you don’t pass well it shows in the score,” Grimes said. “I’m not trying to put everything on the passers, but ball control plays a very important role in volleyball. They fixed it in the second set and committed to doing our job on our side. But Early made an adjustment toward the end of the set that threw our girls for a loop, so credit to them for throwing that in there and putting us on our heels.”
The Lady Lions are back in action Tuesday at Fredericksburg, then compete in the Godley tournament Thursday through Saturday.
“We have a busy, long week next week, but I want to see some grit and some fight,” Grimes said. “We get in some situations where we get pushed back on our heels and it takes us too long to get back on our toes and back in our rhythm. We’re going to be tired by the end of next week, so we have to have that mental toughness to push through.”