The Brownwood Lady Lions continued their early season winning ways Tuesday at Warren Gym, notching their fourth victory in five outings while remaining undefeated at home with a 25-17, 25-16, 26-24 triumph over the Class 3A Wall Lady Hawks.
“We played a good defensive game again, our defense is going and our offense is really strong as well,” said Lady Lions second-year head coach Allison Smith. “I’ve been most pleased by how much the girls enjoy playing together. That’s the whole reason we’re here, we love to play the game and they love to win. Being 4-1 is icing on the cake. I’d like to be 5-0, but 4-1 is a pretty good start to the season.”
Olivia Fowler sparked the Brownwood offense Tuesday with 10 kills followed by Jaylen Savage with seven, Katelyn Windham and Becca Church with six apiece, Tessa Goodwin with five, and Ashlyn Storm with one.
Goodwin distributed 20 assists trailed by Ashlyn Harris with 12 and Caitlyn Moody with a pair.
Fowler also served a team-best six aces followed by Savage with three, along with Goodwin, Windham and Gracie Boswell with one apiece.
Defensively, Moody registered 27 digs trailed by Fowler with 12, Boswell with nine, Goodwin with eight, Savage with five, Windham with four, and Storm with one.
At the net, Savage recorded Brownwood’s two blocks.
The Lady Lions finished strong in the first two sets, then got off to a fast start in the third. Brownwood doubled up Wall early in the finale, 14-7, but the Lady Hawks stormed back to knot the score at 15. A kill from Goodwin boosted the Lady Lions’ lead back to three points, 20-17, but again Wall clawed back.
Square at 23, the Lady Lions fell behind Wall before a kill from Fowler knotted the score at 24. At that point, consecutive kills from Windham allowed Brownwood to complete its closing 3-0 run to secure the match sweep.
“Windham is a clutch player so feeding it her the last two points in the final set was really important,” Smith said. “We know whenever she’s in there she’s going to finish for us.”
In the opening set, Brownwood was down 13-12 before reeling off five of the next six points to seize control, 18-14. A spike and an ace from Fowler, a kill by Savage and a net violation against Wall allowed Brownwood to turn the tide. The Lady Lions went on to tally seven of the last 10 points.
The second set saw both teams exchange points up to 14, where another Fowler kill triggered a run of three straight points. Moody then served a ball the Lady Hawks couldn’t get back over the net, while Goodwin added a kill to stake Brownwood to a 17-14 edge. Like the first set, the Lady Lions closed with a flourish, recording eight of the final 10 points.
“We really come together as a team and fight through adversity,” Smith said. “We let ourselves get down a few times in those first two sets, then in the third set again, and that’s just volleyball. But how they bounce back is just so amazing to me. You don’t get that very much with a lot of teams, but this team is really special in the way they can come together and unite.”
The Lady Lions (4-1) return to action at 4:30 p.m. Friday as they visit Snyder.
“They’re a solid team and they’ll be a good, scrappy team like Wall,” Smith said of Snyder. “I know Wall beat them last week I believe, but I’m looking forward to another good match.”
