The Brownwood Lady Lions were forced to overcome deficits in the first and third sets, but answered the call en route to a 25-23, 25-14, 25-23 sweep of the Midland Christian Lady Mustangs Tuesday night at Warren Gym.
“We had some self-inflicted moments where we let them fight back a lot more than I would have liked, but after coming off a loss at Godley last Friday we really needed to fight through that adversity, fight through some of the issues we had,” said Lady Lions third-year head coach Allison Smith. “We’re working through some of the kinks still, but overall they’re working really hard and doing a good job of coming together and taking care of business.”
The contest was just the second at home for Brownwood (15-5) this season, but Smith said the Lady Lions have made significant strides since their home opener on Aug. 17 against San Angelo Central.
“They’ve gotten a lot more comfortable with their rotation, playing together and getting in system,” Smith said. “Our serve receive is looking pretty good, although it’s been a lot stronger than it was tonight, so I’ve been pleased with that. We’ve got a very good defensive team, but we didn’t quite see what we were capable of tonight compared to when we’ve been on the road, but we’ll work through that and get it back to where it was. Offensively, we’ve gotten a lot better with our setter connections with our hitters.”
Against Midland Christian (15-8), the Lady Lions offense was sparked by Tessa Goodwin with 10 kills, Gracie Boswell with eight, Olivia Fowler with four, Jaylen Savage with three, Jordan Northcutt with two and Kylie Morris with one.
Kylie Wooten dished out 14 assists while Goodwin added four and Boswell and Kassidy Wooten chipped in one apiece.
Fowler served a team-high four aces trailed by Goodwin and Boswell with two each, and Morris, Kassidy Wooten and Kylie Wooten with one apiece.
Defensively, Boswell logged 17 digs followed by Kassidy Wooten and Fowler with 13 each, Morris with 11, Kylie Wooten with eight, Goodwin with six, and Savage and Ashlyn Harris with one each.
At the net, Savage tallied four blocks, Goodwin and Morris notched three each, and Fowler and Northcutt both contributed one.
“We had some blocking errors, but for the most part I thought we more present on the net,” Smith said. “Tessa Goodwin had some really good blocks even if they didn’t hit the floor. She was really present for us along the net along with Kylie Morris and Jaylen Savage in the middle.”
In the opening set, Brownwood found itself down 14-8 and later 17-11, but a 10-2 surge pushed the Lady Lions in front, 21-19. Brownwood pulled even at 19 on a kill by Boswell, then Fowler delivered an ace and an unforced error by Midland Christian gave the Lady Lions a 21-19 edge. Even again at 23, a kill from Morris set Brownwood up on the verge of victory, then Morris came through with a block to give the Lady Lions a two-point win.
In the finale, the Lady Lions led most of the way until a Midland Christian rally put Brownwood in a 19-18 hole. Later, down 22-20, kills from Northcutt and Fowler allowed the Lady Lions to knot the score at 22. Another spike from Fowler evened the mark at 23, then Fowler served a ball Midland Christian couldn’t get back over the net. The match ended with a kill from Savage for the final two-point margin.
During the second set, the Lady Lions racked up the first four points and never looked back, coasting to a double-digit victory.
“Honestly I’m glad we’re facing a little bit of adversity now before we hit the district stride, that way we can get it out of system,” Smith said. “We’ll also be aware of how to overcome adversity when it happens.”
The Lady Lions’ Friday home match against Jim Ned has been cancelled, which means Brownwood will not take the floor again until Sept. 14 when it travels to Granbury.
