The Brownwood Lady Lions were in control of the first set through much of the way in Tuesday’s District 6-4A home opener at Warren Gym, but the Glen Rose Lady Tigers tallied the final nine points of the initial set and went on to collect a 25-19, 25-18, 25-8 victory.
“We started really strong,” said Lady Lions second-year head coach Cheyanne Lovelady, whose team slipped to 13-15 overall and 0-2 in district. “Overall I think we played really well. We made adjustments and they’re coming together as a team. We are inconsistent still and we’re still pushing to fix that. Once we make an error, it leads to the next one, and the next one. We have to be able to get out of service receive and end the errors after one.”
In the first set, the Lady Lions jumped out to a quick 3-1 advantage and led 17-13 at one point. Still ahead 19-16, the wheels fell off for Brownwood as the Lady Lions did not score again and Glen Rose rallied for the win.
“We played one of our best sets in the first set,” Lovelady said. “We had a lot of momentum and were doing a lot of things that I’ve been teaching. They’re being really coachable and are starting to implement things we’ve been working on. We executed in the first set, and if we can start to carry that over into the rest of the game we can be really successful.”
Tied at 11 midway through the second set, the Lady Lions fell victim to another Glen Rose run as the Lady Tigers chalked up five straight points for a 16-11 edge. Brownwood got no closer than four points the remainder of the set.
In the finale, Brownwood again grabbed a 3-1 lead, but Glen Rose surged in front 9-6. Moments later, the Lady Lions surrendered eight consecutive points to fall into a double-digit hole, 17-7.
“We had too many missed serves tonight and we need to clean up our serve receive,” Lovelady said. “We have to get better passes so we can put the ball away sooner.”
Offensively for Brownwood, Aniah Hines led the charge with seven kills trailed by Aubrie Felux with three, Trinity Roberts and Hannah Deen with two apiece and Miranda Northcutt with one.
Icess Hall dished out eight assists, Felux contributed five and Hines was credited with one.
Hines also served a team-high two aces while Sara Stubblefield chipped in one.
Defensively, Hall logged five digs followed by Deen, Laine Johnson and Maddi Scott with three apiece; Stubblefield, Felux, and Hines with two each; and one apiece from Roberts, Northcutt, Jakayla Peek and Peyton Pena.
At the net, Hines recorded all three of Brownwood’s blocks.
The Lady Lions are back in action at 4:30 p.m. Friday as they host Mineral Wells, a 6-4A foe they’ve already faced in tournament competition earlier this season and fell two sets to one.
