The Brownwood Lady Lions were unable to maintain the momentum they established in their opening set against Jim Ned Tuesday night at Warren Gym, as they dropped a four-set decision 23-25, 25-13, 25-12, 29-27 in non-district volleyball action.
A late charge by the Lady Lions, which consisted of five of the final six points, allowed Brownwood to rally in the first set. Then, in the fourth set, the Lady Lions erased a 20-14 deficit and grabbed leads of 25-24 and 27-26 late, but couldn’t force a tiebreaker fifth set.
Regarding the start and finish of the match, Lady Lions second-year head coach Cheyenne Lovelady said, “We definitely had the momentum. We were communicating really well and working as a team really well. Things we’ve been working on in practice were being put into play during the first set and at the very end of the fourth. Communication played a big part.”
As for the second and third sets, Lovelady said, “I really think we got comfortable, and we tend to do that in the second set. We relax and stop moving our feet and we stop communicating as much. We’re working on that in practice.”
On the offensive end for Brownwood, Aniah Hines paced the attack with 10 kills followed by Miranda Northcutt and Trinity Roberts with seven apiece, Aubrie Felux with six, and Demayha Hooker and Sara Stubblefield with one each.
Icess Hall led the way with 16 assists, trailed by Hines with eight, and Maddi Scott with one.
Felux served a team-high three aces, while one apiece came from Hines, Hall, Northcutt and Roberts.
Defensively, Scott recorded 11 digs, along with eight apiece from Hall and Stubblefield, five from Felux, Inylah Hall and Jakayla Peek with three each, and Northcutt, Hines, Roberts and Jentry Coalson with two apiece.
At the net, Hines registered four blocks, Northcutt and Roberts tallied two each, and Hooker finished with one.
The Lady Lions (11-12) return to the court at 4:30 p.m. Friday when they welcome Brady.
