However, after trailing 22-9, the Lady Wranglers stormed back with a 17-1 run to win the set and the match by a 2-0 (25-23, 26-24) score.
Lily Rich led Legacy Ranch with seven kills, while Adelyn Eaton added six and Klaire Murphy contributed a solid, all-around performance with 12 assists, 14 digs and six aces in the victory.
Lady Wranglers head coach Taylor Bryant attributed her side's successful fightback to an about-face it executed after having shot themselves in the foot early on.
“We had a lot of unforced errors at the beginning of the match, but I told them it wasn't a time-out moment, but a mental moment and you just have to be able to bounce back,” she said. “I ended up calling a time-out and telling them you have to have a little bit of grit, a little bit of determination and a little bit of fight and we have to control our stuff. If we don't control our side of the net, what makes us think they're going to stop putting pressure on us?”
The opening set was a see-saw affair that saw both teams stay within a couple points of each other until the Lady Wranglers started to clean up some of the errors that had plagued them and despite the fact they didn't take the lead back until 24-23, were able to close out the Lions for the set victory, as Madison Forbes collected a pair of late kills.
However, the second set began horribly wrong and stayed that way, with Legacy Ranch trailing 14-1 at one point.
Not until Murphy served an ace to make it 22-10 did the Lady Wranglers begin their ultimately-victorious run, as Eaton followed with a kill and an ace on the next two points before Forbes slammed one home to close the gap further.
Murphy proved to be a spark plug from behind the service line with back-to-back aces in closing to 22-19 after the Lady Wranglers had run off 10 straight points.
But, despite a 12-1 Legacy Ranch run, Leander was still serving to even the match at a set apiece at 24-22 before the Lady Wranglers won the final five points to claim victory.
Legacy Ranch won't play at the varsity level until the program's third season two years from now, so Bryant needs to balance her desire for immediate results on the scoreboard now with patience in progressing the growth of the players that will lead the Lady Wranglers in the future – a message she imparted on them recently, she said.
“At practice on Wednesday, I brought my computer and asked the girls how they thought they did in our most recent match,” said Bryant. “They said they played the worst they had all season, but then I showed them the stats that said they had actually played the best they had all season. So, it's about getting them out of that thought of being results-driven because right now our wins and losses don't count – they're just for us to know and understand. We're trying to re-shift their mindset, quit thinking about outcomes and look at the process instead of trying to be perfect this first year. Every single match I've ent... Click here to read full article
ARTICLE SOURCE:
