Tuesday night’s match might have been a microcosm of the Lady Tigers’ volleyball season so far as they struggled early on before taking command late to sweep Elgin 25-19, 25-20, 25-7 in Belton’s home opener at Tiger Gym.
“I’m starting to see things we’re working on skill-wise and team-wise coming together,” Belton first-year coach Justeen Patton said. “I’m starting to see what we’re working on and breaking down in practice coming together and being applied in real matches.”
Added senior outside hitter Becca Owen: “I think we’re playing a lot better as a team. We talk more on the court and we’re really playing more to our potential than we have.
“We were kind of playing slower. We were still tweaking out everything. I think we’ve finally got it down and I think we’re going to have a good season.”
Belton (3-3) dropped its season opener at Round Rock Stony Point and went 2-2 at the Wimberley Tournament. A victory against Marble Falls in the tourney’s finale might have provided the early-season confidence boost the Lady Tigers were looking for, but they didn’t show it at the start against Elgin (3-7).
Belton had seven service errors in the first game, and after two straight mistakes the Lady Tigers watched as their lead dwindled to 20-19.
But Belton rebounded to close out the game.
Sophomore Grace Weaver had a kill, the Lady Wildcats committed an attack error, senior Tilatha Akins served an ace, Kimesha Scott’s block produced another point and senior Myca San Miguel ended the game with a kill.
Patton said the defensive play of middle blockers Scott and Akins has really improved during the first six matches.
“Our middles are closing blocks and that’s huge,” Patton said. “That’s a discipline thing. It’s not for lack of speed, because we don’t lack speed. Closing blocks is discipline and I’m starting to see us on defense going to the correct positions.”
Battling through another stagnant game, Belton held a 20-19 lead before scoring five of the last six points. Elgin committed four errors before Weaver’s kill wrapped up the Game 2 victory.
In the third game, the Lady Tigers overcame their early-match serving woes and dominated throughout.
Junior Hailey Rosebrock served eight consecutive points to turn a 6-4 lead into a 14-4 advantage. Then Owen made up for an attack error by serving seven straight points to make it 22-5.
“I felt like the pace of the game was too slow,” Patton said. “We should have taken control from the beginning, but instead we just waited. We just waited it out and felt like, ‘Let’s get the feel of the game first and take control,’ instead of taking control from the beginning and keeping it the whole way through.
“Instead we waited until the third game to finally take control over the match, but that’s when I started seeing things come together.”
Owen finished with six aces and nine kills, San Miguel had 22 assists and four blocks, Akins had five blocks and Rosebrock had nine digs.
“One of our goals was to come together after every point and communicate more,” Owen said. “We learned that from the past weekend. That was kind of hurting us but we did that really well tonight.”
Belton will play at the Justin Northwest Tournament beginning on Thursday.
