The Lady Leopards swept North Central Texas College 25-23, 25-10, 25-18 in the Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference volleyball opener at TC Gym.
“It’s been a long preseason,” Temple coach Mary Reese said. “They were so ready to start conference.”
It was defense that did the bulk of the damage on Tuesday, as the Lady Leopards (13-11) let it be known right way that they would be ready for anything, winning two of the first four points on defense.
The first was a back-row diving dig by Melissa Padgett that sailed back over the net and caught North Central’s Chelsea Hermes out of position for the save. The second was a very definitive block by Sara Heger on Elizabeth Neyland.
But the offense was just as effective in the first game, with Heather Lisenbe (Academy), Elise Swearengin and Precious Sanders combining for 10 kills and Padgett getting two more points on back-to-back aces.
North Central kept it close by taking advantage of some Temple mistakes and hitting some balls through blocks, but after the game ended so did its chance at winning the match.
“We started out pretty rough,” Reese said. “But we were able to gather our wits between set one and two. We were determined that blocking is where it was going to start, and if we weren’t blocking we had everyone around the ball. Not much fell on our side. I was pleased with our defense.”
For the match, Lisenbe had seven blocks and Heger six. Cami Statsny and Padgett both had 14 digs, while Sanders led the team in kills with 12.
“We needed that from her,” Reese said of Sanders’ performance. “She kept playing the block. That’s something she’s learning is to adjust her arm swing to the different levels. Everybody is going to be taller than her. She’s learning and it’s really good for her to come out and play like she did tonight.”
The only thing that really slowed Sanders and the rest of the Lady Leopards was their own mistakes. Of North Central’s 10 points in the second set, four came on Temple service errors, two were on double hits and too many hits by TC and two were on aces that were served right to Lady Leopard players but just misplayed.
North Central got more in the final set but still couldn’t stop the Lady Leopards, who were simply unstoppable.
“It’s exciting to know they can dominate,” Reese said. “We haven’t seen Vernon or Hill, so maybe this wasn’t our toughest rival and we are taking the approach that anybody can beat us. So we have to be prepared.”
Traditionally, however, North Central has been the toughest team in the conference until the last two years, during which Temple has won the conference. But Reese knows that doesn’t mean anything.
“You never know what (North Central coach Angie Bullard) is going to bring,” Reese said. “It’s still early and she brings them together. We just have to keep moving on up and we have to get better to do well at nationals. We don’t like to get relaxed.”
mhood@temple-telegram.com
