Varsity volleyball took the sweep tonight over Smithville 25-9, 25-10, and 25-10. Read more details below--


From the Temple Daily Telegram by Tim Waits-

On an evening when most of the players on the roster had an opportunity to get on the court, the Lake Belton Lady Broncos saw no dip in performance.

Kaitlyn Hutchins and Abbi Jones combined for 22 kills Tuesday night as Lake Belton dispatched visiting Smithville 25-9, 25-10, 25-10 to capture its sixth straight win.

“I’m happy with the way we maintained our level of play in a match like this,” Lake Belton head coach Allison Waits said. “It was fun to create opportunities for different people.”

The Lady Broncos (16-11) were never in serious trouble, taking commanding leads in each set.
Lake Belton zoomed out to a 10-3 lead in the opener, with Hutchins providing an ace and two kills while Ava Wood had a pair of kills and a block during that initial run. The Lady Broncos never allowed the Lady Tigers to string together back-to-back points.

The final five points of the set came on Lake attacks. Jones got it started with a kill, followed by Madi Bingham’s tap into an open space. Kruz Smith connected on back-to-back aces before Hutchins put away the final point. Smith and Hutchins had a combined five aces in the opener.

Long strings of scores led to another comfortable lead for the Lady Broncos in the second set, though Smithville put together three straight points to get within 7-5.

Lake Belton scored nine of the last 10 points in the set. Jones got it going with a kill to put senior libero Keileigh Krueger on the service line. She promptly delivered three aces across the next four points. Another kill from Jones and a block by Makinzi Johnson put the Lady Broncos closer to the end, and Johnson and Jones added the final two kills to finish the set.

“We have to think about the future and getting opportunities for people whenever we have a chance is important,” said Waits, whose team travels to West on Friday.

It was much the same in the final set. After the Lady Tigers got within 11-7, Lake went on a 14-3 run to end the match.

A Hutchins smash got one long scoring string in motion to put Haylee Kasner on the service line. Kasner served up two aces that were sandwiched by kills from Bingham, Smith, Johnson and Hutchins. After Hutchins earned another kill off a Bingham set and Lake delivered its final ace, an attack by Smithville’s Jaycee Tyrrell sailed long for the final point.

Bingham, who recently crossed the 2,000 assist mark for her career, led the Lady Broncos with 16 assists followed by Natalia Partida with 10. Hutchins and Krueger had 10 digs apiece.

The current streak is a breath of fresh air after a tough tournament in Round Rock over Labor Day weekend.

“We’re getting in our groove,” Waits said. “We got beat up a little bit in the tournament, and now it’s time to do some fine tuning before district.”