The Brownwood Lady Lions opened the home portion of the 2020 volleyball schedule Tuesday at Warren Gym with their second consecutive straight-set victory, 25-7, 25-17, 25-10 over the Class 3A Dublin Lady Lions.
The win comes on the heels of a 25-23, 25-17, 25-11 triumph over first-year Class 4A school Lake Belton this past Friday.
“We started off really strong and then they just started coasting and we can’t afford to coast,” Lady Lions second-year head coach Allison Smith said of the win over Dublin. “We have to increase our intensity the entire time. That’s why we had the slump in the second set, but they got it together and fixed it the second half of the second set. Then they came out played really well in the third set.”
Offensively for Brownwood, Kylie Morris paced the attack with eight kills followed by
six from Olivia Fowler, five each from Jaylen Savage, Katelyn Windham and Tessa Goodwin, two from Ashlyn Storm, and one apiece from Becca Church and Gracie Boswell.
Four aces were served by both Fowler and Kassidy Wooten, while two apiece came from Boswell, Kylie Wooten and Caitlyn Moody, and Morris contributed one.
Kylie Wooten dished out 13 assists, Goodwin recorded 10, Ashlyn Harris distributed four and Moody and Boswell each were credited with one.
On the defensive end, Moody led the way with eight digs trailed by six from Fowler, five from Boswell, four from Kassidy Wooten, three from Kylie Wooten, two each from Church and Goodwin, and one from both Harris and Windham.
At the net, Savage recorded all three Brownwood blocks.
“I was really pleased with our defense again,” Smith said. “Our serve receive is looking really strong. We’ve been drilling and drilling serve receive so I’m really happy with how that turned out. Our offense is very in tune and connecting well. There are still some hitting errors I’d like to not see but that’s with any volleyball match. And we got everybody in tonight which I’m really happy we had the opportunity to do because every girl on the team deserves to play.”
In the opening set Brownwood notched the first eight points and never looked back. Dublin crept as close as 12-6 but the Lady Lions fired back with another 8-0 run to build a 20-6 advantage.
The second set saw Dublin race out to an 8-4 lead, which led to a timeout called by Smith. Brownwood quickly pulled even at 8 and grabbed its first lead, 10-9, on an ace from Fowler. Leading just 15-14 midway through the set, a kill by Windham ignited a string of five straight points that boosted Brownwood’s lead to 20-14.
Up 7-5 early in the third set, a kill by Storm sparked a 6-2 run which stretched Brownwood’s lead to 13-7. The Lady Lions, aided by Dublin miscues, quickly increased the advantage to double figures at 18-8. Kills by Church and Fowler, along with a block from Savage down the stretch allowed Brownwood to chalk up a 15-point victory in the finale.
The Lady Lions (2-0) are back in action Saturday at Glen Rose against Peaster at 11:30 a.m. and Henrietta at 1 p.m. All three teams were originally slated to play in the Glen Rose tournament before COVID-19 restrictions changed the schedule, which is how the dual match came to be.
“Both of them are pretty strong teams, solid programs, and I want to see our girls really get out there and compete,” Smith said. “We have an opportunity to really show what we are capable of doing this weekend so I’m excited about that.”
