Lady Leopards run out of gas in Hooks tourney

Maybe the Liberty-Eylau Lady Leopards just ran out of gas.

Liberty-Eylau (15-3) played three volleyball matches in the Hooks Tournament Thursday.

The Leopards were never the same after winning the first game Friday against Sulphur Springs, dropping the next three as the visiting Lady Wildcats rolled on to a 21-25, 25-17, 25-14, 25-14 victory at the Rader Dome.

“We had a couple of breakdowns, and we’re young and still building,” said L-E coach Kaylee Dalby.

“We’ve played a lot of volleyball so far this season,” Dalby added, “but we have to keep pushing. We have played in three tournaments this season.”

Sulphur Springs (20-5) had a pair of three-point leads in the first game that had seven ties.

After the last tie, 16-16, L-E outscored the Wildcats, 9-5, to win the game 25-21. L-E’s stronger play at the net was the difference.

The second game was close from the start, 9-8, before the Wildcats scored four straight for a 13-8 advantage.

Sulphur Springs maintained its five-point lead, 18-13, and continued to pull away, 22-13.

But L-E tallied four straight to draw within, 22-17, before the Wildcats closed out the game 25-17.

The Wildcats jumped out to a 9-1 lead in the third game

behind Lexi Whisenhunt’s serving and numerous L-E errors.The hosts could never recover and lost 25-14.

It was an unusual start for the Leopards in the final game as they grabbed an early lead, 7-4, but the Wildcats soon tied the game at 7-7 and 10-10.

Sulphur Springs scored the next three and continued to pull away, and closed out the match with a 25-14 victory.

Keeley Norris led the Leopards with nine kills and Daycoria Meadows had 15 assists.

Liberty-Eylau, which went 3-0 in pool play, will resume action at 10 a.m. today against Linden-Kildare in the gold bracket of the “Been There, Dug That” Hooks Classic tournament. The championship match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.