This past week, the Lady Lions travelled to Texas to take on two opponents in Southland Conference games. The team fell short in their first game against the Islanders, but finished stronger in their second game against the Huskies. 

The Lady Lions (6-8, 0-1 Southland) faced the Texas A&M – Corpus Christi Islanders on Thursday, September 24 at 6:30 p.m. in Corpus Christi, Texas for their first Southland Conference game of the season. Falling short, the Lady Lions finished 0-3 and 25-18, 25-14, 25-14 in their sets. 

In the first set, the Lady Lions were not able to take the lead, but were never far behind the Islanders, who never lead by more than six points until the very end. In this match, multiple kills were made by Odom, Turk, junior middle blocker and outside hitter Landry Bullock and Rachael Bunn, junior middle blocker. Shippy was the key player for assists, totaling at seven in the first match alone. 

In the second set, the Lady Lions started off stronger, taking the first point due to an attack error made by the Islanders and a block by Bullock and Bunn, which helped them take a lead of 1-0. Following that play, Corpus Christi scored two points, but the Lady Lions kept fighting, taking the lead again, 3-2, with the help of a kill made by Parrie Hartley, junior right sider and outside hitter. For the remainder of the set, the lead continued to switch back and forth, until the end when the Islanders led by a seven-point streak. Turk, Odom, and Bullock led with multiple kills, along with multiple assists made by Baker, who led in assists in this set, and Shippy. 

In the final set, the Lady Lions never had the lead, but did not go down without a fight. At one point in the set, the Islanders led by seven points, but the Lady Lions did not let this great lead continue. The Lady Lions scored three points, kills made by Odom, Bullock and Turk with assists from Shippy, following the opposing team’s lead, putting them at a more even score of 6-10. Following this though, Texas A&M-CC continued to lead to the end, even with the Lady Lions’ efforts of chipping in a point or two at a time. 

Looking back on this performance, Lady Lions’ Head Coach Jim Smoot felt that given the circumstances of the condition of the team going into the match, the team was not fully prepared. 

“We had several players who were affected by some sort of 24-hour bug,” said Smoot. “That combined with an injury suffered by Tiffany Thomas in the first set made it a very difficult situation. Against a team as strong as Corpus Christi, you need to come in fully loaded.”

Following their first Southland Conference defeat, the Lady Lions (7-8, 1-1 Southland) travelled to Houston, Texas to play against the Houston Baptist Huskies at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 26. The Lady Lions played four sets, finishing 3-1 overall and 25-22, 21-25, 25-17, 25-17. 

In the first set, Odom, who finished the match with 12 kills, led the team with a kill. The Lady Lions managed to keep the lead for the majority of the set, finishing 25-22. Multiple kills were made by Sarah Friedman, sophomore outside hitter and right sider, Odom, Bullock, Hartley, and Shelby Devlin, senior middle blocker and right sider. Shippy and Baker also made multiple assists. 

In the second set, the Lady Lions fell short, finishing 21-25. In the third set, the Lady Lions took a lead and continued to expand it throughout the set, finishing 25-17. 

In the fourth and final set, the Lady Lions again took the lead until the Huskies made a five-point streak, putting them two points ahead. However following this, the Lady Lions took the lead again until the end of the set, finishing at 25-17 and making this match the team’s first Southland Conference victory. Friedman, with 14, led the match with kills. Shippy, with 23, and Baker, with 21, led with assists. 

Smoot reflected on the team’s performance in this match by looking at the team’s strengths and weaknesses and by comparing it to their previous game against the Islanders.

“We still played without Tiffany [Thomas] and Rachael Bunn, but we didn’t let that affect us,” said Smoot. “We have many players that can assume a starting role and the team seemed to realize that and played with more confidence and fire today. We missed too many serves during the first two sets, but remedied that for the rest of the match. I was really pleased our setters Mikayla Shippy and Haley Baker. They made great tactical decisions, which took advantage of our hitters’ strengths and the opposing blockers’ weaknesses.”

Looking forward to the Lady Lions’ next game, Smoot reflects on the improvements he would like to see. 

“I just want to get everybody healthy,” said Smoot. “Fortunately, everyone stepped up today with strong performances. Several players, such as Shelby Devlin and Parrie Hartley did so in different roles and that was great to see.” 

Up next for the Lady Lions is a home game tonight at 7:00 p.m. against the Ragin’ Cajuns of the  University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Visit lionsports.net for more information on Lady Lions Volleyball.