EARLY – Early Lady Horns head coach Natalie Whitewood was at a momentary loss for words following the conclusion of her team’s five-set 25-23, 19-25, 15-25, 25-22, 15-7 home loss to the Class 4A Lampasas Lady Badgers Saturday afternoon.
Seeking their fourth straight victory since beginning the season with a loss, the Lady Horns shined throughout a good portion of the match, but let a number of opportunities to clinch the win slip away.
“I don’t even know how to describe it,” Whitewood said. “I have no idea where we go wrong on something like that. Absolutely we were the better team, absolutely we dominated from the beginning, even in Game 1. We’re ahead 23-18 and they come back and rally seven points in a row and we just can’t do that.”
Referring to the opening set, the Lady Horns dug themselves out of an early 10-3 hole and were able to draw themselves even at 11 following a service ace from Madie Waldorf. Still knotted at 17, the Lady Horns collected six consecutive points, aided by kills from Taylor Summers and Reagan Kirby, to open a 23-17 cushion. On the brink of victory, the Lady Horns instead yielded eight straight points and found themselves down one set to none.
The Lady Horns regrouped in the second set and pulled away late. Tied at 16, a kill from Grecia Yebra pushed Early in front for good. A kill from Summers later made the score 21-18, while Savannah Holt recorded the final two points with a block and a kill.
Early’s best effort of the day came during the third set. The Lady Horns tallied the first five points and opened a double-digit advantage, 17-7, after Lampasas couldn’t return a Carrigan Norris serve back over the net. Early’s lead peaked at a dozen points, 24-12, after a Lampasas hitting error.
Poised to take the match in the fourth set, Early owned a 16-13 advantage. Lampasas, however, drew even at 20, then took a one-point lead. A kill from Norris and a block by Holt gave the lead back to the Lady Horns, 22-21, but Lampasas reeled off the final four points.
In the tiebreaking fifth set, Early possessed a 5-3 lead when Lampasas called timeout. Coming out of the break the wheels fell off for the Lady Horns as the Lady Badgers scored 11 points in a row to grab a commanding 14-5 lead, from which Early could not recover.
Despite the frustration of the loss, Whitewood noted positives to build on.
“We’re hustling, we’re moving, balls are not hitting the floor, we’re not standing and watching,” Whitewood said. “But in a push to shove situation, we just go with the easy way out instead of trying to push back at them, but we’ll figure it out.”
Alexa Portillo again led the Lady Horns offense with 10 kills trailed by eight from Norris, seven from Summers, four from Gwen Phillips, two each from Yebra and Holt and one by Kirby.
Portillo also logged 11 assists while Summers was credited with six.
Waldorf served a team-high four aces while Tori Wood-Rush, LaRue, Summers and Portillo contributed one apiece.
Defensively, Norris registered eight digs followed by LaRue with seven, Summers with four and Portillo with one.
Holt chalked up three blocks while Yebra added one.
The Lady Horns (3-2) will return to action at 6 p.m. Tuesday as they host Lingleville.
