The Temple College Volleyball Team wrapped up their stay at the Western Texas College Volleyball Classic on Saturday morning, as they faced Dallas College Cedar Valley and Vernon College in Snyder.
In the opening match, the Leopards were able to pull away from the Suns and sweep them in three games.
Scores of the match were 25-19, 25-21, and 25-22.
Karlee Williamson, Karlie McCauley, and Kharma Brown picked up early kills, and Williamson and XanZhae Grigsby picked up aces as the Leopards led at the midpoint of game one, 15-10.
Three big digs by Hanna Ward late in the first game kept the Leopards' momentum in full effect, Abbie Soileau's two assists late set up Lana Wright for a pair of kills. Wright also collected a late ace to help TC clinch game one by six points.
Yasmine Traore had three early kills and Soileau collected an ace early in the second game. Grace Schneider and Riley Mendiola connected on kill shots as the Leopards had five-point lead, 17-12.
The Suns gained some momentum late, but kills by Mendiola, Wright, and Traore helped keep the winning margin at four points.
In game three, six Traore kills in Temple's first 14 points gave the Leopards a six-point lead, 14-9.
Again, the Suns broke serve in the middle of the game and went on a 13-9 stretch to pull within a point. The Leopards collected the final. two points with win the game by three and earn the sweep.
The final match of the tournament for TC was Vernon College in a non-conference tilt.
The Chaparrals were tenacious defensively and took advantage of many of the opportunities afforded by the Leopards as they swept TC.
Scores of the match were 25-11, 25-11, and 25-12.
Vernon earned the first four points of the match and methodically opened a 14-6 advantage.
The Leopards could not gain a foothold in the game, as Vernon's 11-5 clip over the final 16 points earned the Chaparrals a 14-point win.
Things started well for the Leopards in the second game, as Wright had two successful attacks and Mendiola earned a kill to give Temple a 5-4 lead.
Vernon turned up the heat again and outscored Temple 21-6 over the next 27 points to earn a second 14-point win and go up 2-0 in the match.
Schneider and Traore had a pair of kills each in the third game. However, Vernon pulled away from the Leopards early. Temple fought off a match point on a Schneider kill, but Vernon closed the match out with a kill.
In the tournament, the Leopards finished 2-2 and were 7-6 in games.
"Both days were learning experiences for us," TC Volleyball head coach Rachel Melancon said. "We tried different lineup combinations, some worked and some we tinkered with. Next week is an extremely busy week, and we do not have much of a turnaround."
The Leopards start their week Monday evening as they host Dallas College North Lake on Kirby Johnson Court at 6 pm. TC travels to Beeville on Tuesday to take on Coastal Bend College, to Irving on Thursday for the back half of the home-and-home with North Lake, and heads to Dallas for the weekend at the DC Richland Tournament against Richland (Friday, 10 am), Coffeyville Community College (Friday, 11:30 am), Independence Community College (Saturday, 8 am), and DC Eastfield (Saturday, 11 am).