Lady Lions suffer tough losses to Lehman, Steele

The Lady Lions had a tough week last week, dropping two matches as the second round of district play draws to a close.
Lady Lions v. Lehman
The week started out really rough for the Lady Lions, who lost a match to Lehman by scores of 12-25, 21-25, 25-23,21-25.
According to Coach Jeff Witte, the loss was tough for the Lady Lions, who dominated the Lady Lobos

in three straight games during the first round of district play. This time the Lobos proved to be a lot tougher competition on their home floor.
“I had talked to the girls for three days about not going into the match taking Lehman lightly, that we had played really well against them last time and they had played poorly,” he said. “I knew they were a lot better than they had showed the last time we played them, yet I could not seem to get the girls to buy it.”
The Lady Lions were never into the match mentally or physically and it was reflected in their play, Witte noted.
The Lady Lobos jumped out quick on the Lady Lions and never let up. The Lady Lions tried to rebound in the second game and had a chance late but could not finish it.
“Losing the second game was critical as it put us in a position where we had to win the next three games,” Witte said. “We were able to win Game Three but could not pull out Game Four.”
The Lady Lions were led defensively by Kelly Witte, who picked up 11 digs and three blocks. She was followed by Ashley Moore, who had eight digs, Brianna Hinnenkamp with seven, and Ashley Johnson and Andrea Carter with five digs each. Mariah Carter and Shelby Heindrichs each contributed four digs. Hinnenkamp and Jenee Clay each had one block.
Offensively, K. Witte led the pack with ten kills, followed by Camille Clay with six, J. Clay with four and Hinnenkamp and A. Moore with three each. Raemsch led in assists with ten, followed by Hendrichs with eight and K. Witte with five.
Lady Lions v. Steele
On Friday the Lady Lions traveled to Steele to take on the Lady Knights.
The Lady Knights were fresh off winning a game in their most recent match against New Braunfels, marking the first district loss for the Lady Unicorns. The Lady Knights proved too much for the Lady Lions. Lockhart fell in three games, 16-25, 14-25 and 10-25.
“We tried switching our lineup around with Kelly (Witte) and Natalie (Raemsch) setting the entire match for the first time all year,” Coach Witte said. “I really felt we needed to try something different after losing to Lehman.”
At times the new lineup showed a lot of promise as, as the Lady Lions had different players in the back row working to improve serve reception. According to Witte, serve reception did improve over the Lehman match, and the setters did well in their positions. The hitters, however, seemed to have a hard time adjusting to the way the new setters were setting the ball.
Defensively the Lions were led by Ashley Johnson and Kelly Witte with five digs each. They were followed by Brianna Hinnenkamp with four digs and Ashley Moore with three. K. Witte also led the team in blocks with 1.5.
Offensively, Jenee Clay took the lead with six kills, followed by K. Witte and Camille Clay with three each. A. Moore, Andrea Carter and Meredith Moore each contributed two kills. Natalie Raemsch led with nine assists, followed by K. Witte, who had six.
The Lady Lions finish up their season this week with a home game against Del Valle and then travel to Samuel Clemens on Friday for the season finale.
(Courtesy of Jeff Witte)