Houston volleyball coach Loran Richardson hopes Tuesday’s season opener means her team is moving in the right direction.
“We are already better than we were last year, and we continue to improve,” Richardson said following the Lady Tigers’ 25-16, 25-20 defeat to Licking. “We killed ourselves with unforced errors. Once we learn to be consistent and take care of the ball, we will be much stronger.”
HHS, which went 3-24-1 last season, had strong stretches in the opener. The Lady Tigers were only down 16-15 in a back-and-forth first set until Licking went on a 9-1 run. Then they showed some fight in the second set by battling back from a 19-10 deficit to pull within three points.
Richardson said she was specially pleased with the defense.
“Overall, we did some really good things,” Richardson said. “Our defense looked really strong. Melody (Buse) and Sevanna (Rowland) played well together on the back row.”
Buse had 21 digs and a 2.3 passing rate to lead the Lady Tigers. Senior Brooke McCown had a team-best four kills. Kennedy Campbell had two aces and two blocks. Alexis Choate and Chloe Hunninghake had five assists apiece.
HHS (0-1) hosts Cuba on Thursday.