EARLY – After playing their first 10 matches on the road, the Early Lady Horns finally opened the home portion of their volleyball schedule Tuesday night with a 25-12, 25-9, 25-21 straight-set victory over the Lingleville Lady Cardinals.
“Today they stepped up the bar a little bit and it was good to see,” said Early head coach Missy Vaughn, whose team improved to 5-6 on the young season. “They’ve bought in from day one, I couldn’t be any happier with that, but we’re still climbing to get better and every day there’s room for improvement.”
Taylor Summers and Carrigan Norris spearheaded the Lady Horns’ attack with seven kills each, while Hadalee Saunders contributed five kills. Bethany Tomlinson dished out 19 assists and served four aces, while Summers also chipped in four aces.
“The girls came together today, they played well as a team,” Vaughn said. “There was a lot of communication, a lot of determination offensively and they took care of the ball.”
Tied at 5 in the opening set, the Lady Horns took the lead for good due to some miscommunication from Lingleville. Summers then followed with two aces and Saunders added a kill as Early opened a 9-5 edge never looked back.
In the second set, the Lady Horns reeled off the final 16 points. Leading 9-6, an unforced error gave possession back to Early and Tomlinson followed by serving 15 consecutive points. All four of Tomlinson’s aces were recorded during the spurt, along with kills from Summers and Saunders.
The final set found Early in a 17-14 hole at one point, but Norris, Saunders and Summers sparked the late turnaround for the Lady Horns. Kills from Norris and Saunders quickly evened the score at 17. A spike by Summers later tied the score at 19, then Lingleville followed with consecutive unforced errors.
Leading 21-20, Early chalked up four of the last five points with a kill by Summers clinching the win.
As for what pleased Vaughn most about the Lady Horns’ performance Tuesday, she said, “They came back in that third set, came from behind and took care of it.”
The Lady Horns will return to action Friday and Saturday at the Bronte tournament.
Asked what she would like to see from the Lady Horns during this weekend’s action, Vaughn replied, “Consistency. We just have to keep playing to our potential.”
