The Early Lady Horns pushed Brownwood and the Abilene Wylie JV to three sets, but came up short in both matches before knocking off Abilene TLCA for a third-place finish in Pool A Thursday at the Heart of Texas volleyball tournament at the Brownwood Coliseum.
The 1-2 mark lands Early (4-6) in the silver bracket, as the Lady Horns will next compete at 10 a.m. Saturday at Brownwood High School against the winner of the Pool B 3rd place vs. Pool C 4th place game at 8 a.m.
In a 25-20, 23-25, 15-9 loss to Brownwood to start Thursday’s action, Tyley Simmons paced the Lady Horns with seven kills followed by five from Aubrie DeVillier, four from Karley Smith, three each from Jensyn Rasor and Gabby Benson and one from Ellie Shea.
Grey Pruett distributed 15 assists while Cassidy Frerichs contributed four.
Simmons also served two aces and DeVillier and Shea added one each.
Defensively, Benson logged 11 digs followed by Pruett with eight, Rasor and DeVillier with two apiece and Smith and Simmons with one each.
At the net, Rasor and Simmons notched blocks.
In a 25-8, 24-26, 19-17 setback to the Wylie JV, Simmons again led the charge with four kills trailed by Shea, Smith and Rasor with two each, and Benson with one.
Pruett finished with five assists while the Lady Horns did not serve an ace.
The defensive side featured five blocks from Simmons, four from Shea and three from Rasor.
Pruett also registered 13 digs trailed by Benson with 10, Simmons and DeVillier with seven apiece, Smith with five, and Hallie Thornberry with two.
The Lady Horns’ 25-11, 25-21 triumph over TLCA to end the day resulted in three kills from both Rasor and DeVillier, two each from Pruett and Piper Pederson, and one apiece from Smith, Simmons and Shea.
Pruett finished with nine assists while Pederson and Frerichs both chipped in one.
Smith served a team-best four aces while DeVillier and Pruett added two each and Simmons and Benson both served one.
With eight digs, Benson led the way on defense followed by a pair from Smith.
At the net, Shea tallied the lone block.
