The Temple College Volleyball team hosted the North Central Texas College Lions to continue conference play at Kirby Johnson Court.
Temple's relentless attack toward the Lions kept the match close throughout the two-and-a-half-hour thriller. The Leopards won the match, 3-2.
Scores of the match were 18-25, 25-15, 25-20, 21-25, and 15-13.
The Leopards scored the first point in all five games, as Grace Schneider and Lana Wright collected two kills each, and Karma Brown added another.
Brown, Schneider, Brown and Yasmine Traore set the early tone in game one as the Leopards sprinted out to an 8-2 lead.
NCTC roared back with a 16-7 streak of their own to grab an 18-15 advantage.
Following back-to-back kills by Schneider and Brown, the Lions finished game one with a 7-1 run.
Sarah Rodriguez had two of Temple points in game two on kills, as the Leopards raced out to a 5-2 lead.
Back-to-back kills by Kate Walraven helped pull the Lions even at 6-6. The Leopards responded with a 19-9 run, fueled by a stretch of five Traore kills and an Abbie Soileau ace to put to tie the match.
Temple jumped out to an 11-6 lead in game three before the Lions put together 14-8 stretch to take a 20-19 lead. The Leopards countered with six straight points, with Hannah Block having picked up a critical service ace, and Rodriguez and Wright having driven two shots in the middle of the Lions side for the final to points of the set.
Wright and Karlee Williamson began set four with a kill and service ace respectively for Temple.
As relentless as Temple's attack was on the Lions, NCTC accepted the challenges and countered with their own persistence. Emarei Brandon, Emily Metzler, Kynadi Hall, and Isabel Gabbert helped keep the Lions in arms-reach of the Leopards with kills that powered a late 7-1 run to force a fifth and deciding game.
TC leapt out to an 8-3 lead in game five before the teams traded sides. The Lions broke game point twice before Traore's cannonading blast that dropped on NCTC's side of the court ended the match.
Temple picked up 64 kills in the match, a season-high for a five-game match, and second-highest since registering 68 against Lee College on Sept. 6. Traore led the Leopards with 17 kills, Brown added 12, Wright contributed 11, Schneider added ten, and Rodriguez chipped in nine.
TC's 62 assists was one better than their season-high 61 set against the Lions in Gainesville on Sept. 13. Williamson led the Leopards with a season-high 55 assists, 20 more than her 35 against Dallas College Richland on Sept. 1 and has a three-game stretch of 107 assists.
The Leopards' 122 digs obliterated their previous season-high of 80 against Cisco College on Oct. 8. Hanna Ward's 37 digs shattered her previous high of 27 set against Lee College on Sept. 6. Rodriguez's 31 digs were 20 more than her previous high of 11 set twice this season. Williamson added 15, Soileau chipped in 14, and Traore contributed 10.
The Leopards will hit the road on Saturday for a rematch against the Ranger College Rangers at 1 pm. In their matchup on Sept. 17 at Kirby Johnson Court, the Rangers swept the Leopards by scores of 26-24, 25-7, and 25-21.