Lady Leps Fall to East Bernard
In other area high school volleyball action Tuesday:
After 18 consecutive road matches to start the season, the La Grange volleyball team finally played its home opener Tuesday.
But the Lady Leps ran into a tough East Bernard team and after winning the first set 2514, lost the next three sets 1625, 14-25, and 11-25.
“At the start our energy was great, we came out positive and confident,” said La Grange head coach Leslie Coltrain. “We fed No. 8 the ball (Carley Ulrich) and she terminated a lot. We came out swinging, but we couldn’t seem to maintain that.
“When we started making mistakes we get in our own heads. The inexperience shows.”
The loss drops the Lady Leps overall record to 7-12 as they head to the Athens (Texas) Tournament this weekend.
Tuesday Ulrich led the way for La Grange with 17 kills. Cara Homer added eight and Kylie Trlicek had seven.
After limited playing time on varsity last year as a freshman, Ulrich has emerged a powerful force for the Lady Leps this season.
“She is able to do things that look so natural for her. She’s got great volleyball smarts, jumps well, reaches well,” Coltrain said.
“As a freshman it was hard getting to know everybody but now as a sophomore I feel more comfortable,” Ulrich said. “Tonight we were communicating well early and had more energy, but then we kept digging ourselves in holes.”
La Grange’s Jena Jobb led the team in digs with 19. Trlicek had 15, Haylie Cooper had 14 and Mara Colon 10.
Phoebe Tucker led La Grange is assists with 18 and Trlicek had 16. Kenna Lamza and Ulrich each had two blocks. Despite having a lot of seniors on this team, these Lady Leps are also pretty inexperienced. They started a freshman (Lamza) and two sophomores Tuesday. But Coltrain is seeing the growth.
“They are an easy group of kids to like and coach,” Coltrain said. “But we have to have a fast learning curve. And we cannot go into matches not believing in ourselves.”
In subvarsity action the La Grange JV lost to East Bernard 24-26, 23-25 to fall to 5-2 overall. The LG freshman beat East Bernard 25-14, 21-25, 1715 to improve to 2-5 overall.
• Round Top-Carmine beat Weimar 30-28, 27-25, 22-25, 25-17 Tuesday to improve to 13-6 as Mallory Krause had 12 kills, 14 digs and 23 assists. Tess Eilers had 15 kills and 19 digs. Kaysie Ward had 10 kills. Maggie Salinas had 21 digs.
• Schulenburg swept Burton 25-12, 25-11, 25-19 to improve to 10-9. Emmrie Marx had 18 kills and Jessalyn Gipson added 13. Meredith Magliolo had five aces and three blocks. Kieryn Adams had 19 digs, Keaton Walker had 11 and Avery Helms had 10. Landry Zapalac had 38 assists.
• Fayetteville lost to Milano 25-23, 25-12, 25-27, 26-24.