By Ryan Mayner
The Lehman Lady Lobos were defeated at Lobo gym Friday night by the Lake Travis Lady Cavaliers in straight sets, 25-11, 25-19, 25-21. The final tally, however, does not tell the whole story of how hard the Lady Lobos fought and how entertaining the game was.
Lehman junior Cheyenne Morgan sang a beautiful national anthem before the game began, but start was not so pretty for the home team, who were down 0-5 before many of the fans even took their seats. The undersized Lehman girls looked outmatched against the intimidating presence of Lake Travis’ tall front line.
Lady Lobo senior libero Ofelia Negrete rallied the troops and the Lobos fought back to 4-6. Lake Travis surged again, forcing Coach Megan Cooper to take the fi rst time out of the game with the score 4-11.
After the timeout, Lake Travis tall front line continued to batter the Lobos. Lehman showed guts by digging out the shots and sending them back. The first set ended up being a quick Cavs victory.
Lake Travis was up 6-1 in the second set when the Lobos’ discipline and courage started to pay off. Every time their opponents would attempt a spike, there were hands up in the front line to block it, and they began registering a few kills of their own. Suddenly it was 8-9, and Lehman kept pace through the rest of the set.
Though they lost, it was Lehman’s highest scoring round against this team in the two matches they’ve played this year. Despite being down 2-0 in the third set, Lehman played as if theyhad momentum. Morgan scored to make it 12-10, forcing Lake Travis to call timeout.
Lehman surrendered their last lead at 15-16 when Lehman’s Twyla Garcia barely missed a kill shot in the back corner where no Cavalier could reach.
“We played much better than we did the fi rst time we competed against them, and I feel that we improved from set to set. I think we’re growing in our tenacity,” Lehman head coach Megan Cooper said. “That’s what I ask for, and I think we’re getting there. They’re an incredible group of girls and they work really, really hard.”