PHOTO BY RICHARD AKRIDGE Lampasas junior Kendal Conner delivers a kill during Monday evening's home match against Llano. Conner recorded three kills and assisted on a pair of blocks during the Lady Badgers' back-to-back matches against the Lady Jackets and Gatesville. Nobody ever said winning was easy.

After opening their season with a perfect 3-0 start, including an unblemished seven-game win streak, the Lady Badgers have fallen on some hard times, losing four consecutive matches in less than a week.

Most recently, Lampasas fell to Llano in straight sets at home before losing at Gatesville the next night.

Despite the unexpected losing streak, head coach Beth Rutland feels confident the Lady Badgers' impressive growth spurt over the summer months after a winless 2008 district showing has not ended but, instead, is just in a temporary lull.

"We're still working on finding that consistency, keeping that fight and that drive alive longer," the coach said. "When we bring it, we are very talented. We just need to find that consistency."

Last Monday evening against Llano, Lampasas was consistently inconsistent. The Lady Badgers dropped the first two sets in grand fashion by scores of 25-15 and 25- 13, before coming alive late in the third set to score 13 of the final 19 points. Unfortunately, it was not enough, as the Lady Jackets put the home team away with a 25-21 victory.

"There were a lot of mental mistakes right from the get-go," Rutland said after the match. "A couple of missed serves, a couple of in-the-net calls and the focus just kind of disappeared for a while, and other things came from that lack of focus."

The Lady Badgers fell behind by six points, 14-8, early in the first set but clawed their way to within three points at 15-12. A service error, however, triggered an 11-3 run for Llano as it cruised to victory.

Lampasas did not recover in the second set, giving up eight consecutive points before finally getting on the board off a Jontell Ritz kill.

Within minutes the deficit grew to 19-5, and the Lady Jackets never looked back.

In the third set, the Lady Badgers once again dug themselves a large hole and were unable to climb out. Trailing 19-8, Lampasas made a serious run at the Lady Jackets and thwarted three match points before losing.

The spirited run gave Rutland something to build on.

"If we could come out like we finished, that would fix so much," the coach said.

Lampasas finished the match with 17 errors and only 16 kills. Outside hitters Sarah Bishop and Ritz each recorded three kills, as did Madison Morris and Falon Holland.

One day later, the Lady Badgers traveled to Gatesville and performed at a much higher level throughout the match before losing a heartbreaker in four sets (21-25, 21-25, 26-24, 25-27).

Although it goes down as a loss in the record book, Rutland feels her team won a battle as the Lady Badgers attempt to rebuild the program.

"I felt like [the loss to Llano] was kind of a backslide for them, [and they felt] like 'Oh, it's going to be like last year,' " the coach said. "It hurt them to lose [to Gatesville], and I don't know that it has always been that way.

"They knew they fought so hard and fell short, and they hurt. That's encouraging."

Bishop and Morris again led the squad in kills with six apiece. Setters Jacqueline Hensley and Mariah Jones both improved their output as well, combining for 29 assists in the match. They totaled 14 against Llano.

The Lady Badgers (3-4 overall) will attempt to bury their losing streak this weekend as they participate in the Gatesville tournament. In the process, they perhaps could gain a measure of revenge against both Llano and the host school who each are competing.

***

The subvarsity squads also went winless against Llano and Gatesville.

The junior varsity Lady Badgers (0-4) lost in straight sets to both clubs, while the freshman (1-3) team fell in three sets to each opponent.

Both Lampasas squads will be competing at the Gatesville tournament.