Trailing two sets to none against the No. 13 Stephenville Honeybees – who at one point were ranked as high as No. 2 in the state – the Brownwood Lady Lions pulled off an improbable comeback for a five-set 18-25, 15-25, 25-22, 25-22, 15-10 victory Tuesday night at Warren Gym.
In perhaps the Lady Lions volleyball program’s biggest win since reaching the Class 4A state championship game in 2008, Brownwood (10-5, 4-0) now finds itself alone in first place at the halfway point of the District 6-4A campaign.
“The girls were talking yesterday about how they hadn’t taken a set off Stephenville in forever and they wanted to at least do that, and I told them they better win,” said Lady Lions second-year head coach Allison Smith. “We’re more than capable of winning and you have to have that mentality. Stephenville is a fantastic team, a great team, one of the very top teams in the state, so this shows a lot about our team. We’re a very solid team and we just have to believe it and we have to prove it.”
Early on, it appeared as though the Lady Lions’ recent drought against Stephenville (20-4, 3-1) might continue. But to overcome the adversity the Lady Lions faced Tuesday, Smith said, “That just shows our tenacity. I’ve talked about it a few times this season, I don’t think they even believed they had it. We’ve been preaching it and preaching it, asking how good are y’all? You have to show it, you have to buckle down. When we dropped the first two sets I thought, ‘oh great, here we go again,’ but they reached down deep, they started playing and they were aggressive which is exactly what you have to do against Stephenville.”
As for what triggered the Lady Lions’ turnaround, Smith said. “We limited our errors. We stopped serving it in the net so much, we went after their team like we talked about it, you can’t give them any points because they’re scrappy. It’s hard to put the ball down against Stephenville, it is, but then we started doing it and got them out of their system and started playing our game instead of letting them play theirs.”
Katelyn Windham ignited the offense with 12 kills followed by eight each from Kylie Morris and Olivia Fowler, seven from Ashlyn Storm, five from Jaylen Savage, and three from Tessa Goodwin.
Goodwin dished out 38 assists while Caitlyn Moody contributed one.
Fowler served four aces trailed by Morris with a pair and Goodwin, Windham and Kassidy Wooten with one apiece.
On the defensive end, Moody registered 35 digs followed by Goodwin and Becca Church with a dozen each, Gracie Boswell with nine, Fowler with eight, Morris and Wooten with seven apiece, Windham with six, Savage with two, and Storm with one.
Savage logged four blocks at the net while Morris, Goodwin, Windham and Storm were credited with one apiece.
Down two sets to none, the Lady Lions tallied the first three points of the third set aided by an ace from Goodwin and a block by Morris for points. The Lady Lions led throughout the early portion of the third set, but Stephenville eventually rallied to grab a 16-15 edge.
The set remained close for the next few points, but with the score knotted at 18 consecutive kills from Savage, Fowler and Windham swung the momentum to Brownwood. Stephenville crept within 22-21, but another kill from Savage and an unforced hitting error pushed the Lady Lions’ lead to 24-21. Another Honeybee hitting error later ended the set.
The fourth set was perhaps the most impressive performance from the Lady Lions, who fell in a 6-2 hole. Brownwood then knotted the score at 10 when a Stephenville block landed out of bounds on the Lady Lions’ side of the net. Wooten followed by serving her lone ace to give Brownwood its first lead, 11-10.
Again facing a 19-15 deficit in the fourth, the Lady Lions notched 10 of the last 13 points to force the tiebreaking set. A kill from Storm, an ace by Morris and a kill by Fowler closed the gap to 20-19. Three more hitting errors by Stephenville allowed the Lady Lions to surge in front, 22-20. Clinging to a 22-21 lead, a tip from Windham, and two more unforced Stephenville errors resulted in a tie match.
The deciding fifth set featured a fast start for the Lady Lions, who jumped in front 5-2. Stephenville, however, surged back ahead, 8-7, which led to a Brownwood timeout.
After the break, the Lady Lions received tips from Windham and Storm, as well as an ace from Fowler, to grab a 10-8 lead they would never relinquish. Additional spikes by Windham and Storm resulted in points that stretched the lead to 12-9. Another hitting error by the Honeybees and a kill by Goodwin put the Lady Lions on the doorstep of victory, 14-9. After Stephenville notched its 10th point, a spike attempt by the Honeybees clipped the pole on the net, which resulted in an out of bounds ruling and a five-set triumph for the Lady Lions.
Asked what stood out most about the Lady Lions’ play during their come-from-behind victory, Smith said, “Every single one of them individually came together as a team. They played for each other, they didn’t play for themselves out there tonight. A couple of them got snappy with each other at the beginning, then they came together and played for each other. I can’t be more proud of that. That’s more important than winning any volleyball game.”
The Lady Lions’ district schedule won’t get any easier as Tuesday was the final home game of the season. Brownwood must now visit Glen Rose, Lampasas, Gatesville and Stephenville to close out league play in their quest for the 6-4A title.
“That’s going to be tough,” Smith said. “We go to Glen Rose first and that’s always a challenge playing at Glen Rose, but it’s always a challenge not playing on your home court. But we set ourselves up the best we possibly could for the second round and these girls aren’t going to forget this moment.”
The Lady Lions visit Glen Rose, who they rallied to defeat in five sets in the district opener, at 5:30 p.m. Friday.
