No. 2 Burton splits dual in Bellville

The Class 2A No. 2 Burton Lady Panthers (26-9) earned a split in a non-district dual in Bellville on Tuesday.

Burton defeated Class 1A rival Round Top-Carmine in three sets (25-22, 25-17, 25-8) before falling to Class 4A No. 16 Bellville in five sets (15-25, 15-25, 25-23, 25-16, 12-15).

The Lady Panthers began the afternoon strong against RTC, but had to find an extra gear against a determined Cubette squad. Burton earned its first big lead with a five-point run created by kills from three different players, pushing the Lady Panthers to a 13-7 lead.

Burton increased its lead to eight points at 19-11 after a spike kill at the net from sophomore Natalie Hodde.

Round Top-Carmine worked its way back into the opening set with a six-point run and got to within a point of the Lady Panthers at 22-21 after a setting error from Burton.

The Lady Panthers recovered and finished the set with three straight kills. One of sophomore Lexi Broesche’s four kills in the opening set was followed by back-to-back kills from junior middle blocker Kinsey Lunbeck in the set’s final points.

Lunbeck also finished the first set with four kills. Lunebeck and Broesche led Burton’s first-set attack with four other players earning at least one kill.

After allowing the first two points of the second set to Round Top-Carmine, Burton pulled ahead with a seven-point run. Two kills from Lexi Broesche along with kills from sophomore Laci Broesche and fellow sophomore Madalyn Henry along with an ace from setter Adison Harmel pushed the Lady Panthers to the lead.

Round Top-Carmine got as close as three points multiple times in the second set, but the Lady Panthers found a multi-point response each time.

Burton expanded a 10-7 margin to a 15-8 lead midway through the set with two aces, a block and a kill in a six-point span. The Lady Panthers later turned a 16-13 margin into a comfortable 19-13 lead with tipped kills from Lexi Broesche and senior Aerynn Huntsman along with a RTC attack error.

Burton coach Blaire Smith said her team took what Round Top-Carmine presented it and changed things on its own side accordingly as the match went on.

“I thought they did a good job of recognizing what their goal was or what they were trying to make work for them and adjusting that,” she said. “I thought we did a good job and we were being pretty aggressive.

After eventually taking the second set 25-17, Burton’s aggressiveness powered it to a 25-8 win in the third set to seal the sweep.

Burton snapped a five-match losing streak against Round Top-Carmine on Tuesday and earned its first win over the Cubettes since 2022. The Lady Panthers moved to 17-18 against RTC since 2009 with Tuesday’s win.

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No. 2 Burton splits dual in Bellville

Bellville 3, Burton 2

Burton had to readjust to Bellville’s offense in its second match of the day. A valiant effort to do so nearly ended in a reverse sweep, but the Lady Panthers had to settle for their second five-set loss in five days against the Brahmanettes.

The Lady Panthers struggled through the first two sets as they adjusted from facing Round Top-Carmine’s offense earlier in the day to Bellville’s offense.

“We were trying to come out with energy and then we were always on the defensive,” Smith said. “Things just were not working for us. It is hard to keep that energy, hard to gain any momentum, when you feel like you are running all over the place.”

Bellville threatened to sweep Burton with a 21-17 lead in the third set. However, Smith said the Lady Panthers found the mental switch to keep the match going.

“I felt like we were starting to realize, ‘Oh, we are capable of this,’” she said. “I think deep down, they really knew it, but I think it took just seeing it there on the scoreboard for them to get that feeling of, ‘Okay, we are capable. We can do this.’ ”

After Burton came back to win the third set and keep the match alive, the Lady Panthers found their stride with a 25-16 fourth-set win to force a decisive fifth set.

Smith said her hitters began to realize smart shots on tips and rolls were working against the Brahmanettes, leading to more success later in the match.

Similar to Burton’s five-set match against Iola on Friday, the Lady Panthers fell into a hole in Tuesday’s decisive set. Bellville took a 10-6 lead and had control throughout the final set.

Though the Lady Panthers came on the losing end of another five-set battle, Smith was pleased to see her team battle back at Bellville in a similar manner to how it did against Iola.

“I am hoping the girls realize we easily could have rolled over after the first and second sets,” she said. “They had a lot of good fight. They picked it up when I did not know if they had any left, so I was very proud of them for that.”

As Burton’s non-district slate winds down in the coming weeks, Smith hopes her team can take the lessons from Tuesday’s five-setter and last week’s five-set loss to Iola and apply them to practice moving forward.

“It is making us realize we really need to be pushing ourselves intensity wise and stamina, building that more in practice so that we are capable of having full steam for all five sets,” she said.

Burton continues play Tuesday against Aggieland Homeschool in its final non-district match of the season.