Lady Steers defeat Bronte Lady Longhorns in four sets on Tuesday night
Volleyball is a game of momentum. The Big Spring Lady Steers used that to their advantage on Tuesday night and rode that momentum all the way to a come-frombehind 3-1 win over the Bronte Lady Longhorns.
“I think we did really well,” Head Coach Kaitlyn Braswell said. “We've been improving on the things we've been working on and everything else will just come as we go.”
Bronte started the night off strong and were able to capture the first set by a score of 25-19. Outside of a nice “changeup” style of hit by Jocelyn Gonzales at the net that tied the game up at 14, the Lady Longhorns were able to hold their lead throughout the entire first set.
Following a hot start by Bronte in the second set where they once again had jumped out to an early lead, Big Spring decided they were going to take the game into their own hands. The Lady Steers went on to score five of the set's next six points and flipped their deficit into a two-point lead.
The Lady Longhorns decided to take a timeout that they hoped would halt Big Spring's momentum with the Lady Steers ahead 10-7. Instead, Tristan Smith laid down a ferocious spike at the net to keep the train rolling.
With Big Spring ahead 20-15 late in the set, Bronte scored three straight points to put the pressure on the Lady Steers to close out the set. Braswell's team was able to do just that by finishing the set on a 5-0 run that gave them a 25-18 set win and tied the game at one set apiece.
“Just with more practice and more time we've been learning and improving,” Braswell said.
The third set was the most exciting and evenly-matched of the night and went all the way down to the wire. Following a disappointing second set, Bronte quickly started off the set with a 4-0 lead and looked to be back in charge of the game.
Instead, Big Spring's Kalyn Whitehead had something to say about that.
Whitehead drilled a spike into the hardwood on the Bronte side of the net that was able to energize the whole building. Before anyone knew it, the Lady Steers were back in the lead and were rolling.
Later in the set, Bronte began to show their fight and trimmed the lead back down to one point (17-16). That led to a Big Spring timeout where Braswell gave a fiery speech to her squad and sent them back out on the floor.
Both teams were not giving up and were fighting to take that crucial second set win of the night. The score was tied at 22 before Big Spring scored the set's last three points behind the strong play of Whitehead for a 2522 third set win.
“We've been down a lot lately so this was good for us to have a win like this,” Whitehead said.
That third set seemed to take all of the gas out of Bronte's engine as Big Spring was able to control it from the opening serve. The match was ended by a emphatic block at the net by Smith and the Lady Steers took home their first win of the non-dual meet games.
Big Spring has improved with every game they have played so far and Braswell has her players in great shape and ready to battle for all five sets if needed.
“I think this performance today will help us win more going forward this season,” Whitehead said.
Big Spring will now try to keep that momentum on their side heading into the next game against Grape Creek this weekend.
UP NEXT: vs. Grape Creek (12:00 p.m.) inside Steer Gym.
Shawn Moran is the sports writer at the Big Spring Herald. To contact him, e-mail sports@bigspringherald.com or call 432-263-7331.