Lady Steers take down Estacado 3-1 in first district match of season
ESTACADO — The Big Spring Lady Steers (9-9) played their first district game of the season on Tuesday night on the road against their new district rival, the Estacado Lady Matadors.
Big Spring was able to take home the win in four sets (25-17, 18-25, 25-16, 25-16) and played well as a team while being without star player Kalyn Whitehead for the match.
“We fought through some adversity tonight playing without Kalyn,” Big Spring Head Volleyball Coach Kaitlyn Braswell said. “I think we competed hard and I was proud of all of them out there tonight.”
Whitehead's absence forced Braswell to make a roster move. Then, the Lady Steers' coach decided that she would call up Brooklyn Hyatt from the Junior Varsity for the match against the Lady Matadors. Instead of blending in as a role player like some young players do in their first varsity action, Hyatt stood out from her teammates and her performance on the court may have helped find her a permanent place on the Varsity roster.
“I was proud of her and I thought it was great how she didn't play scared out there and didn't look out of place,” Braswell said.
Regardless, the Lady Steers are now 1-0 in district play and are currently sitting atop the standings. Braswell's team seems to improve as a squad every time that they take the court together and will have a chance to grab their first home district win when they take on Lake View this upcoming Saturday afternoon.
GAME RECAP
Big Spring began the match by bringing the energy to the Estacado gym and quickly jumped out to an early lead behind the serving ability of Hyatt.
Estacado was forced to take a timeout when trailing by six (10-4) early in the set and attempted to regroup. However, Big Spring had other plans and kept the pressure on their opponent. The first set included a pair of great plays that were made by Jalen Sykes and the Lady Steers were able to coast to a 25-17 first set victory.
The Lady Matadors began to pick up some steam near the end of the first set and took that momentum with them into the second set. Big Spring's Jacqueline
Belew, Jocelyn Gonzales and Ryen Terrazas all made great plays in the second set but their effort began to slip near the end and Estacado was able to take control.
Big Spring was holding a 15-12 lead midway through the set when Estacado's Autumn Paige took over serving for the Lady Matadors. Estacado proceeded to score the next 11 points of the set and ended up with a thrilling come-from-behind 25-18 second set win over the Lady Steers.
“It was just a mental thing. I think we got too comfortable where we were and we just needed to bring our energy back up to the level we played with during that first set win,” Braswell said.
Big Spring got back on track during the third set with Tristan Smith kicking things off for the Lady Steers and scoring the first point of the set. This time, the Lady Steers played great team ball and seemed to find a renewed sense of enthusiasm that they had lost during the second set. The Big Spring side of the gym also got more involved in cheering on their team and it seemed to give the Lady Steers a much-needed jolt of energy on their way to a 25-16 third set victory.
The Lady Steers came out just as hot to begin the fourth set and quickly found themselves with a 12-4 lead. However, Estacado was not done yet and they still had some more fight to give.
In the blink of an eye, the set was within one point with the Lady Steers leading 15-14 and they seemed to be fading fast. That is when senior Ryen Terrazas took the reigns for the Lady Steers and put the team on her back.
“She's our go-to,” Braswell said. “We're confident in her ability and she's who we send it to when we're in trouble. We always think we can get out of whatever bind we're in when she's on the court.”
Big Spring was able to close out the set and match by scoring 10 of the last 12 points and another 25-16 set victory.
UP NEXT: The Lady Steers host Lake View on Saturday at Big Spring High School (12:00 p.m.). The JV games will be played before the Varsity game, beginning at 10:00 a.m.
Shawn Moran is the sports writer at the Big Spring Herald. To contact him, e-mail sports@bigspringherald.com or call 432-263-7331.