Sure, the Temple volleyball team wound up with a 25-9, 25-21, 26-24 sweep of Killeen Shoemaker . . . but there was way too much unnecessary drama Tuesday night at Wildcat Gym.

"That was very sloppy," Temple coach Susie Hughlett said. "I'll take an ugly win but that was ugly, bottom line."

All the Tem-Cats needed to do was take care of business against a team they've beaten rather easily for years. Yet, they found themselves trailing for most of the second and third games before scrapping by with a late rally.

For a team right in the mix for a playoff spot, it shouldn't have been this much trouble to beat a team in District 12-5A's cellar.

"We talked about before the game playing to your potential - you can't play down to teams," Hughlett said. "I think that's what we did. We didn't play our game, for sure. We talked about staying intense from point 1 to 25. Those are things we've tried to work on the whole season. It fell apart."

Good thing Loryn Goodwin hammered home a team-high nine kills, Faith Thompson had eight and Kaitlin Muniz added five or else those postseason hopes could have been in serious jeopardy.

"Thank God we had a little intestinal fortitude and came back," Hughlett said. "If there was anything that was impressive it was that they came back."

After Tuesday's scare, the Tem-Cats (19-14 overall, 6-4 in 12-5A) remained in third place, tied with Bryan and Belton for one of the district's four playoff spots. They have one more should-be-easy victory Friday against Harker Heights before facing the gauntlet to close out the regular season.

For Temple, it really comes down to staying focused before needing a win in one of its final two matches against Bryan and second-place Copperas Cove.

That's what made Tuesday's sloppy play so surprising and concerning.

"I think it was lack of motivation and I don't understand why we would lack motivation at this stage in the game," Hughlett said. "They know what they have to do to win. There's no excuse. Absolutely no excuse."

After making quick work of the Lady Grey Wolves (4-26, 1-9) in the first game, the second game was a struggle from the start.

The Tem-Cats trailed 11-1, then rallied to tie it at 15 but still couldn't seize control. Temple took its first lead at 21-20 when Goodwin smacked across one of her four kills on the game and went on to a too-close-for-comfort win to put itself one game away from the sweep.

"I thought Loryn Goodwin played an exceptional game at the net," Hughlett said. "I thought she carried us on her back the entire game. She was ready to play."

The Tem-Cats were down for much of the third game as well, trailing 14-8 before closing to tie it at 17. Temple didn't take its first lead until 24-23 on a Shoemaker error but needed two more points before it could close out the match.

It's worth noting that the Tem-Cats played without starting libero Lauren Mann, but Hughlett said that still doesn't explain Tuesday night's display.

"Thank God we won," Hughlett said. "Credit to Shoemaker - they're not going to lay down and die for you."

It was quite a scare and a warning, too. If the Tem-Cats want to earn a postseason bid, it's going to require more than they showed. But it's the type of play they've shown they're capable of.

"Obviously, it showed some weakness that we've got to work on this week," Hughlett said. "If we play like that against Harker Heights, we're done."

rschneider@temple-telegram.com