By Clay Whittington// Killeen Daily Herald News--


Very few teams have been able to compete with Lake Belton during the second half of the season, but Ellison appeared it would.

The Lady Broncos, however, emphatically ended the attempt.

Having won 14 of their previous 15 matches entering the evening, Lake Belton traveled to Killeen on Tuesday with plenty of momentum and cruised to a 15-point win in the opening set.

The Lady Eagles rebounded by jumping out to a 5-2 advantage in the second set, but the cushion quickly deflated as the Lady Broncos embarked on a 22-3 outburst to take control and propel them to a 25-10, 25-10, 25-20 victory.

“We came out in the first set with high energy,” she said. “We were breaking away, but then we took a little while to get in our groove. We had a couple of long serving streaks, though.

“That was really helpful for us to break away and finish out the last sets.”

The Lady Broncos started strong, winning nine of the match’s first 11 points, and they increased the lead to double digits at 16-6. The gap grew to 20-9 on sophomore Haylee Kasner’s ace before Ellison’s Charity Graham set up teammate Ja’Lya Swiney for a kill.

Ellison would not get any closer.

Sparked by senior Kaitlyn Hutchins’ hit, Lake Belton recorded five consecutive points to close the set, but the one-sided showing did not deflate the Lady Eagles.

After a hitting error on the Lady Broncos, Jada Hood posted a kill and Kiara Knight-Thompson had a scoring block, and moments later, Graham assisted Aaliyah Lee on a kill to help establish the 5-2 lead.

Hutchins’ ensuing kill triggered 10 unanswered points for the Lady Broncos, beginning the explosion that essentially ended the hopes of an Ellison comeback.

“That run really meant a lot to our team,” Waits said, “because we were spreading the offense around really well. That has been a goal of ours.

“If we needed someone to step up, they were going in and doing exactly what we asked, so it’s great to set those goals and see the girls achieve them.”

The Lady Eagles, who are responsible for one of Lake Belton’s two set losses during District 16-5A play, delivered their best performance in the third set, trailing the Lady Broncos by just three points, 22-19, late, but they could not rally.

With the victory, Lake Belton improves to 7-0 in the league standings and secures a playoff berth, while Ellison falls to 3-4 with three matches remaining.

The Lady Eagles close by sandwiching road trips to Waco University and Chaparral around hosting Belton, while the Lady Broncos will try to earn an undefeated district championship with wins against visiting Waco and Chaparral before closing the schedule at University.

Lake Belton opened the season with some back-and-forth showings, producing a 10-12 record through 22 matches, but since defeating Lago Vista on Aug. 29, the Lady Broncos have turned their season around.

The victory was the first of eight consecutive wins, and following a defeat at Pflugerville Weiss, they have not lost in district competition.

Lake Belton has larger goals than winning streaks or simply making the playoffs, though.

“This is the time of the year where we really want to be playing to the best of our abilities,” Waits said. “I really feel like we are getting into that groove and finding consistency. We are starting to play our best volleyball, and I’m really happy about that.

“We don’t want to take anything for granted, and we are happy to have made the playoffs, but that is just one goal. It is our first goal.”