The Brownwood Lady Lions earned a third-place finish at the Heart of Texas volleyball tournament Saturday, completing a string of seven matches with a 5-2 record.
After posting a 3-1 mark Thursday to advance to the Gold Bracket, the Lady Lions started Saturday action at the Brownwood Coliseum with a 25-12, 25-18 victory over Fort Worth Covenant, was upended in a tiebreaker by eventual tournament champion Comanche, 13-25, 25-22, 15-11, and bounced back with a 25-22, 25-16 triumph over Snyder in the third-place match.
“Our passing got better over the two days, every match our passing got better,” said Lady Lions first-year head coach Kristen Grimes. “We’re all starting to work together, we’re all starting to mesh together, we’re grooving together as opposed to being different people on the court. They’re getting comfortable with each other, even the kids coming off the bench. They might not see the court a lot, but when they’re coming in the others are helping them out. It doesn’t get disjointed when new people come in off the bench.”
Grimes continued, “Some things we’re still inconsistent with is our energy. Some matches we start energized, with a lot of communication, and some matches we’re flat. That’s something I told them we have to get more consistent with.”
Against Snyder, the Lady Lions trailed by a 19-10 count at one point in the opening set before scoring 15 of the final 18 points to steal a victory and control of the contest.
“We were not very energized, we were trying to force things, we were not in our groove,” Grimes said of the first set against Snyder. “I called a timeout, talked to them about just working themselves into a rhythm and putting the ball in play because our defense was really good today. The outsides did a much better job finding spots on the court as opposed to trying to force something.”
Down 19-10, a kill from Hannah Deen and a block by Demayha Hooker helped close the gap to 19-13. A Snyder hitting error and service ace by Sara Stubblefield allowed the Lady Lions to creep within 20-15. Then, another kill by Deen, an ace from Lanie Johnson and a tip by Icess Hall made the score 21-18 and forced a Snyder time out.
Three consecutive unforced errors out of the break allowed Brownwood to draw even at 21, then another ace from Johnson pushed the Lady Lions in front, 22-21. Leading 23-21, Aniah Hines recorded a pair of kills, with a Snyder block sandwiched between, for the final two Brownwood points.
Though the Lady Lions dropped their match with Comanche, the opening 12-point victory was the best set Brownwood has put together under Grimes.
“Everything was just clicking that first set,” Grimes said. “Our passing was on point, we were able to spread our offense and that really helped our right side and our left side go up against a split block or single block because our middles, they were getting swings, too, so the middle had to honor them. It was just creating holes for the outsides and the right sides, and when we run a spread offense it’s a lot easier to score points.”
Trailing 6-5 in the opening set, the Lady Lions reeled off 16 of the next 18 points to seize a 21-8 advantage. Aided by a few Comanche miscues, the Lady Lions were sharp with only one unforced error during that stretch along with two kills from Hines, one from Deen, one from Kaydence Chandler and aces by Johnson and Hines, as well.
Brownwood’s downfall against Comanche in the final two sets was fueled by an influx of self-inflicted wounds that weren’t present in the initial set.
The day began with a convincing victory for the Lady Lions as, after clinging to an early 9-8 advantage, Brownwood went on a 12-2 run – including a run of nine consecutive points – to establish a 21-10 cushion against Covenant.
Hall served two aces, Chandler added one and Deen collected a kill, to go along with scoring assists created by Covenant miscues.
In the second set, Brownwood’s lead slipped to 13-12 before a 6-1 run returned momentum to the Lady Lions, 19-13. Kills from Hines and Chandler, and a couple of aces from Hall, were keys to the surge.
The Lady Lions (8-6) are back in action at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Llano, then compete at the Albany tournament next weekend.
Regarding the progress the Lady Lions have shown to this point in the season, Grimes said, “I’m feeling good. How well we played that first set against Comanche was eye opening to me, seeing the level that we can play. I didn’t doubt that we could play at that level, but I think they see it now and hopefully we can string that together more than just that set, and keep building on that.”
