Of course, playing Temple to open District 12-5A play has been motivation enough.
The Lady Tigers managed to head off the Tem-Cats before they could get a head of steam Friday night and came away with a 25-13, 25-23, 25-21 sweep of Temple at Tiger Gym.
“I was very pleased with the whole team,” said Belton coach Justeen Patton, whose Lady Tigers improve to 12-8 overall. “They executed everything we had them do in practice. We had 10 days to get ready and they put it together.”
Temple couldn’t quite build on the momentum of some of its recent matches, though the Tem-Cats were very much in the final two games before they both slipped away.
“We didn’t play as well as we had the last couple of times out,” said Temple coach Susie Hughlett, whose Tem-Cats slip to 14-16. “Belton was the better team and there’s no excuses. We didn’t execute the skills like we needed to.”
Becca Owen was lights out for the Lady Tigers with 14 kills and 10 digs, while Grace Weaver added 11 more kills.
“Becca played out of her mind,” said Patton. “Grace did a good job, too.”
In the second set, the Tem-Cats were in prime position to tie the match after leading much of the time. The Tem-Cats stayed a step ahead of the Lady Tigers. An ace from Ashley Schlieper put the Tem-Cats ahead 23-22.
However, a lift call and a Kaitlin Muniz attack went long before Owens closed out the game by ripping a Myca San Miguel set down the middle. A victory in that game could have turned the tide of momentum.
“Sometimes maybe they tried a little too hard,” said Hughlett. “With a young team like this, that’s going to happen. One positive is that we started playing better in games two and three.”
The third was another that saw the Tem-Cats jump out to an early lead and the score was knotted, 14-14.
That’s when the Tem-Cats made the move that ultimately finished off the match. Owens put down a spike to recapture the lead then served an ace and picked up a couple of more points on the Tem-Cats to go up 18-14.
Later, Weaver connected on back-to-back kills and Hailey Rosebrock added another to make it 23-17.
The Tem-Cats went down swinging as Shantae Hewins put away an overpass and Jordan Pickett scored on successive blocks to close it to 23-21. But Owens went down the line for a spike and a wide Tem-Cat shot attempt ended the match.
The opening set went routinely for the Lady Tigers. Already up 12-9, Belton reeled off seven straight on Kimesha Scott’s service with three kills from Owens and another from Rosebrock. Belton maintained the advantage and finished with a kill by Owens and a block by Scott.
San Miguel had 25 assists for the Lady Tigers and Rosebrock had six digs. Patty Kabobel led the Tem-Cats with five kills, while Kacie Easley, Pickett and Hewins all had three kills apiece.
“Hopefully we will build on this and get better,” said Hughlett, whose team will be home on Tuesday to host Ellison. “The only way we have to go is up. We’ll regroup. This is a resilient team.”
Belton will remain at Tiger Gym on Tuesday to host College Station A&M Consolidated.
“We didn’t underestimate our opponent,” said Patton. “If we had been lax they were ready to take over the match. The girls came through when things started to get down."
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