For the first time since the 2015-16 campaigns, the Brownwood Lady Lions volleyball program returns the same head coach for a second season, as Allison Smith is back with a goal of improving on last year’s district runner-up finish.

The Lady Lions posted a 19-15 overall record in 2019, including a 5-3 mark in District 7-4A, and were bi-district finalists.

“It’s really nice that the majority of the girls are familiar with my style of coaching and what I expect,” Smith said of returning to guide the Lady Lions in 2020. “It gives me more room to work with everybody, rather than trying to learn every girl and what teams they should be on. It gives me an opportunity to single out what we’re going to work on from the very beginning.”

The Lady Lions – who begin regular season action at 4 p.m. Friday, Aug. 14 at Lake Belton – held an intrasquad scrimmage at Warren Gym on Friday.

“I saw a lot of really great things,” Smith said. “Obviously there’s some stuff we need to work on, but that goes for any team. But this team showed up ready to go. They’re blessed to have a season and we all know it. We’re excited and the expectations are really high.”

In the new District 6-4A this year, the Lady Lions will tangle with Stephenville, Glen Rose, Gatesville and Lampasas in pursuit of a league title.

“I definitely see Stephenville being our toughest opponent again,” Smith said. “Glen Rose had a solid team last year, but I expect for it to be between us and Stephenville again. I expect us to have better games against Stephenville.”

The Lady Lions return an experienced core from last year’s squad including district blocker of the year Ashlyn Storm, first-team all-district selection Caitlyn Moody, and second-team picks Olivia Fowler and Jaylen Savage. Katelyn Windham, Tessa Goodwin, Kylie Wooten and Kylie Morris are also back after receiving honorable mention.

Following the season opener at Lake Belton, the Lady Lions will square off against Dublin, Peaster, Henrietta, Wall, Snyder, Godley, Burnet, Abilene Wylie and Graham before opening district action Sept. 22 at home against Glen Rose.

Regarding the season opener, Smith said, “We start off with Lake Belton which is a new school so I don’t know exactly what to expect from them. I’m assuming they will be pretty good, pretty solid.

The pre-district schedule was reshuffled and tournaments were eliminated by the UIL as part of its COVID-19 restrictions, which prevents Brownwood from facing some of the larger schools it has traditionally.

“I feel like we’re a very solid 4A volleyball program, so I had us playing a lot of 6A and 5A teams, tough teams in the preseason,” Smith said. “The changes hurt us, then we had to scramble and reset our preseason, but we have some solid 4A teams in there.”

Once district action commences, Smith stated the Lady Lions’ defensive performance will dictate the team’s success level.

“We definitely need to get our serve receive and defensive passing down,” Smith said. “Our offense is ready to go, they’re so strong and our setters are really strong as well. We have to get our defense, the passes up there. For the most part we’ll get it down pretty quickly and then be able to work on perfecting everything else.”

Brownwood Varsity Volleyball Schedule

Aug. 14 at Lake Belton 4 p.m.

Aug. 18 Dublin 6 p.m.

Aug. 22 Peaster/Henrietta (at Glen Rose) TBA

Aug. 25 Wall 6 p.m.

Aug. 28 at Snyder 6 p.m.

Sept. 1 Godley 6 p.m.

Sept. 4 Burnet 6 p.m.

Sept. 8 at Burnet 6 p.m.

Sept. 15 at Abilene Wylie 6 p.m.

Sept. 18 at Graham 4:30 p.m.

Sept. 22 Glen Rose* 6 p.m.

Sept. 25 DISTRICT BYE

Sept. 29 Lampasas* 6 p.m.

Oct. 2 Gatesville* 5:30 p.m.

Oct. 6 Stephenville* 6 p.m.

Oct. 9 at Glen Rose* 5:30 p.m.

Oct. 13 DISTRICT BYE

Oct. 16 at Lampasas* 5:30 p.m.

Oct. 20 at Gatesville* 6 p.m.

Oct. 23 at Stephenville* 5:30 p.m.

*District 6-4A Match