With her Lady Tigers looking listless on the court and playing inconsistent volleyball, Patton began substituting for several of her starters in the hope that her bench would provide an intensity spark.
That didn’t work either, and Belton eventually fell to Cove 25-16, 22-25, 25-19, 25-19 on Tuesday night at Bulldawg Gym.
“I was disappointed in the level of energy and the level of fight. There was none,” Patton said. “I’m frustrated with our energy on the court . . . the energy we had opening up the match and the energy we had throughout the whole match.
“We got beat. They beat us legitimately. We had our own unforced errors (15 service errors) and our own mistakes and they kept their composure and they just beat us, plain and simple.”
The Lady Tigers dropped to 13-10 overall and 2-2 in District 12-5A, while the Lady Bulldawgs improved to 19-12, 2-1.
“That’s a big win for us,” Cove coach Cari Lowery said. “We needed to win that.”
After a Game 1 defeat in which Belton never led, the Lady Tigers clawed back to tie the match.
Tied at 14 in the second game, Belton took control behind a scoring display from junior Hailey Rosebrock. She had two kills and served an ace as the Lady Tigers eventually claimed a 20-16 lead before getting the win.
Belton couldn’t carry over the Game 2 momemtum, though.
With Cove leading 6-5 in the third game, the Lady Tigers made 10 errors during the Lady Bulldawgs’ 14-6 run that produced a 20-11 Cove lead.
Patton subbed in Amber Peters, Brooke Kiella, Victoria Murry and Chelsea Lomprey, four non-starters who helped Belton close the game with a flourish but couldn’t supply the much-needed jolt.
“There’s a lot of things that we need to work on as far as our attitude and our energy level,” Patton said. “Volleyball-wise, they (Cove) have girls with fast arm swings and they have a big team. What I was disappointed is that we played at their slow pace.”
The Lady Tigers appeared ready to send the match to a decisive game after jumping out to a 13-9 lead in the fourth. But the Lady Bulldawgs’ senior duo of Tina Miller and Sapphire Reid combined for seven kills as Cove rallied back to take the match.
Myca San Miguel had 37 assists, Becca Owen had 12 kills and 19 digs and Grace Weaver had 13 kills - seven in Game 3 - and 12 digs.
Belton had 15 service errors, several at inopportune times. The final one came by Owen, who missed a serve with her team trailing 20-18 in the fourth, derailing any comeback hopes.
To begin their 12-5A season, the Lady Tigers have faced rival Temple, College Station A&M Consolidated, Bryan and Copperas Cove, likely their four most difficult district opponents. After going 2-2 against those foes, Belton’s schedule becomes favorable and should give the Lady Tigers time to work out any kinks before the second half begins.
“I think it’s kind of fun to be in a competitive district like this,” Patton said. “We need to fight and earn our right as second or first place. We’ll show our true selves when we play these teams again and see if we’ve learned from our mistakes and our lack of energy and our lack of fight."
cmeister@temple-telegram.com
