From Jon Brooks/Temple Daily Telegram

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Lake Belton entered Tuesday’s clash with BISD rival Belton looking to stack its second straight win after the Lady Broncos hit an unexpected road bump last week.

Madi Bingham and Kaitlyn Hutchins ensured their team didn’t stumble again seven days later.

Bingham dished out a game-high 29 assists and Hutchins’ 22 kills led all players as the Lady Broncos swarmed past the Lady Tigers 25-16, 25-17, 25-14 to post a District 16-5A victory at Tiger Gym, which featured student sections on each side that stood throughout the match and traded competing chants at times.
“Really proud of our girls for coming out and executing our game plan from the start,” said Lake Belton head coach Allison Waits, whose team hasn’t dropped a set since suffering a five-set loss to Killeen Chaparral last week. “We really worked on it in practice and we did it the first time and then came out from the jump with good energy and great volleyball.”

Coupled with last Friday’s sweep of Waco University, Tuesday’s outcome keeps Lake Belton (28-10, 5-1) within pace of Chaparral, which Lake will visit at the end of next week with a chance to return the favor as the regular season winds into its final weeks.

“I think the loss was a wakeup call that potentially we needed, and I hope it is. We weren’t ourselves. We didn’t play our game at all that night and I think that’s the wakeup call we needed, and we’ll get them second round,” said Waits, who captured her 100th career victory with Tuesday’s decision.

Belton (21-18, 2-4), meanwhile, also sought its second straight victory after posting a sweep of Waco last Friday but couldn’t match Lake’s intensity from the outset. The Lady Tigers held only two leads, both during a brief spurt in the second set.

“Lake executes their plays very well. They know how to finish a play. They know how to put the ball down. We do those things. We just don’t do them as consistently,” Lady Tigers head coach Haleigh Evans said.

A series of Lake Belton hitting errors helped Belton pull within 9-8 in the initial set, but a Lady Broncos run shortly ensued to leave the Lady Tigers behind.

Back-to-back Bingham assists were sandwiched around Hutchins’ ace to kick-start a 6-1 spurt that ended with Lake holding a 15-9 edge, one that didn’t slip below five points the rest of the way.

Belton kept things more competitive in the middle frame, though the Lady Broncos stiffened late to create some breathing room.

Miley Davila’s ace clipped the net and fell for the Lady Tigers’ first lead of the night at 9-8 early in the second, and Landry Duggan later found CJ Stites for a hard kill to midcourt and a 14-13 gap.

Lake promptly ripped off a 6-1 swing, fueled by Bingham’s passing and three kills from Morgan Kukulski, to claim the margin for good.

“We were blocking very well there,” Evans said of the second set. “If we were a little more disciplined in our blocking, it could’ve been a different outcome. We just have to do a better job of having consistent energy on the court and executing plays.”

A soft Abbi Jones kill looped over the net and found space up front to settle the tally in Lake’s favor. The Lady Broncos then led the entire way through the final stanza to complete the sweep.

Malu Pula and Avelle Bonfoh notched five kills apiece to pace the Lady Tigers, while Macyen Doskocil chipped in four. Bingham added a match-best three aces for Lake Belton, which also got seven kills from Kukulski as seven Lady Broncos tallied at least one kill.

Belton will travel to University on Friday while Lake hosts Killeen Ellison.