For the second time in their first seven matches of the season, the No. 12 Brownwood Lady Lions possess a three-game win streak following Tuesday’s four-set home triumph over the Godley Lady Cats.
Brownwood notched a 25-22, 25-15, 24-26, 25-17 victory to improve to 6-1 on the season.
“They played amazing, this team is really something special,” said Lady Lions second-year head coach Allison Smith. “Our defense was a little bit off tonight but the way they pursued and the way they stuck with it and fixed it at the end was really crucial for us. They eventually got us going again, even through their lows they picked it up and got us going, and we got our offense back on track.”
Behind 23 aces, the Lady Lions’ serving shifted the momentum on more than one occasion throughout the night.
“We’ve got some really tough jump floats,” Smith said. “I could pretty much go down our roster, Windham, Olivia Fowler, Tessa, we have a really great serving team.”
Katelyn Windham led Brownwood with eight aces, including a critical stretch of serving in the opening set when the Lady Lions turned a 14-13 deficit into a 22-14 advantage. Olivia Fowler, Kylie Morris and Gracie Boswell contributed three aces apiece, Tessa Goodwin served two and Caitlyn Moody chipped in one.
At the net, Morris recorded a team-high 10 kills trailed by Goodwin with nine, Ashlyn Storm with eight, Windham with seven, Fowler with six, Becca Church with five, and Boswell and Ashlyn Harris with one apiece.
Goodwin also distributed 28 assists, Harris dished out 13, Moody added two, and Church logged one.
On the defensive end, Moody posted 26 digs followed by Fowler with 25, Boswell with 16, Windham with 10, Church with eight, Morris with seven, and Storm and Harris with four each.
Storm registered a team-high three blocks, Windham added two and Goodwin and Fowler both finished with one.
In the first set, Brownwood jumped out to a 10-5 advantage after an ace by Boswell, but Godley stormed back for a 14-13 lead. Then, behind the serving of Windham, the Lady Lions reeled off eight straight points to regain control. Windham served four of her aces during that stretch, while Storm contributed a kill that led to a Godley timeout. The Lady Cats eventually crept back within 24-22, but a tip by Storm at the net resulted in a 1-0 edge for Brownwood.
“Windham was playing out of position tonight at middle blocker since we’re short Jaylen (Savage), and she stepped up and did an amazing job for us,” Smith said.
The Lady Lions dominated early in the first set, tallying the first five points. Leading 11-6 and with Goodwin serving, Brownwood earned six straight points to open a double-digit cushion, 16-6. Goodwin later added a kill to give Brownwood its largest lead of the set, 20-8, en route to a 10-point triumph.
In the third set, Brownwood trailed 7-3 early, 16-11 midway through the set and faced a 22-16 deficit before rallying behind the serving of Morris to knot the score at 22. A kill from Fowler evened the score at 23, then a hitting error by Godley resulted in a 24-all tie, but the Lady Cats notched the final two points with Brownwood being called for a net violation to end the set.
“In the third set we just let them get too big of a lead, we didn’t cut them off,” Smith said. “We didn’t attack them like we should have, but they came out and fixed it in the fourth set. They tried in the third set but it was a little too late at that point.”
In the finale, the Lady Lions notched the first three points, led 8-3 on an ace by Windham and increased the advantage to 15-7 as Godley couldn’t get a serve from Moody back over the net. The Lady Cats closed to within 16-13, but leading 19-15 a kill from Morris triggered a 6-2 closing run for the Lady Lions’ eight-point margin of victory.
Earlier this week, the Lady Lions made their season debut in the Texas Girls Coaches Association Class 4A Volleyball Rankings at No. 12.
“Rankings are rankings, it doesn’t matter until we prove what we’re worth on the court,” Smith said. “I’m honored to be ranked but I want to pursue it and eventually be No. 1.”
The Lady Lions are back in action at 6 p.m. Friday as they host Burner for Senior Night.
“I went to high school in Burnet so I’m really excited to play my alma mater,” Smith said. “It’s going to be a really good game, I know they’re going to be a scrappy team and they’ve got a good program going. I’m excited to honor our seniors and see some of my old coaches, too.”
