BELTON - For the Temple Tem-Cats volleyball team, its postseason situation is simple.
Temple must win tonight against rival Belton. If the Tem-Cats don't, their playoff hopes are all but over this season.
That's the sense of urgency coach Susie Hughlett has expressed to her team heading into the second half of District 12-5A. The Tem-Cats look to end a five-match losing streak against Belton at 6:30 tonight at Tiger Gym to keep their fading playoff hopes alive.
"Absolutely," Hughlett said about tonight's match being a must-win situation. "Yeah playing hard is good, but we need to get some wins. I want them to succeed, but they have to start winning.
"You can't play not to lose. You have to play to win."
Fifth-place Temple (16-14, 3-4 in 12-5A) is two matches behind second-place teams Belton (11-20, 5-2), Bryan (14-13, 5-2) and Copperas Cove (25-7, 5-2) after the first round of league play. The Tem-Cats went 0-3 against those foes, losing home matches in five games to Belton and Bryan and getting swept by Cove on Friday.
Temple must beat at least two of those three teams and get some help in order to have a shot. Otherwise, the Tem-Cats likely will miss the playoffs for the second straight season.
They've come close to pulling out victories but have failed to finish, evidenced by their loss to Bryan last week. Temple led the Lady Vikings two games to one and was up 7-5 in Game 5 but couldn't hold on.
"I was telling my girls, 'I think we could be 6-1 (in district play),'" Hughlett said. "I know we can play with anybody. If a bounce goes our way here or there, we could be 6-1."
The Lady Tigers are in comfortable position to make their third straight playoff appearance.
Aside from its win over Temple, Belton also beat Cove in four games before losing to Bryan in a five-game heartbreaker.
After finishing in a three-way tie for second a season ago, the Lady Tigers are looking to sweep those three teams and secure second-place alone behind probable league champion and No. 8-ranked College Station A&M Consolidated.
"I saw a lot of good things when we played Temple and Cove. Now we have to do it again," Belton coach Justeen Patton said. "We had that heartbreaker to Bryan. We need to stay focused. It's harder to do it a second time. We know teams aren't going to roll over and die. It's just how bad do we want it."
The Lady Tigers, particularly leader Grace Weaver, showed that urgency by raising their play during the first half.
The area's leader in kills, Weaver averaged 20.6 and 12.3 digs during that stretch, including a career-high 33 kills against Cove. Since league play started, the junior outside hitter has been more in sync with setter Brooke Malcik to become a threat from anywhere on the court.
Her 29 kills, including 15 in the first two games, set the tone in the first match against Temple. How well the Tem-Cats contain Weaver, who has yet to lose to Temple, will be key.
"Our defense has to be scrappy on her roll shots," Hughlett said. "We have to be able to hone into her. We have to play lights-out defense.
"She's going to get her kills. But as a hitter on our team, we have to take care of the ball and put the ball away when given the opportunity."
Temple hitters Kaitlin Muniz, who had a career-high 24 kills against Bryan, and Loryn Goodwin combined for 21 in the first meeting. They'll likely need to shoulder more of the offensive load, and there will need to be strong defensive performances from middle blocker Faith Thompson and libero Lauren Mann for the Tem-Cats to get a crucial road victory.
Looking to thwart Temple's bid and continue its recent dominance in the rivalry, Belton hopes to also generate momentum heading into its most difficult stretch - against Consol, Bryan and Cove - to start 12-5A's second half.
Said Patton: "By no means can we think we'll walk in there and win this match just because we did the first time. Temple's a good team and we have to work harder. We can't underestimate them and we have to be ready."
