PHOTOS BY RICHARD AKRIDGE Outside hitter Hadley Brown (1) delivers a spike during Lampasas' loss to Hutto Friday night. The sophomore finished with one kill and two digs in the match. Roller coasters are fun, just not the emotional kind.

The Lady Badgers were mentally up and down all Friday evening, and it showed as the home team lost its district-opener in four sets (12-25, 25-21, 19-25, 20-25) to Hutto.

Although Lampasas was able to remain competitive after dropping the match's first set, it could never put itself in a position to win.

After the match, head coach Beth Rutland said falling into a hole early in district play was the least of her worries.

"Sometimes they looked pretty high, but more [often they looked] emotionally low," the coach said. "They just looked so panicked and messed up. Girls were almost in tears before the game was even over.

"You put so much pressure on yourself because it's a district game, but it is still [just] a game, and we've played games. We've got to focus on the next play and not dwell on our mistakes."

Hailey Morrison (5) and Mariah Jones decide being safe is better than being sorry as both players attempt a bump. Lampasas had plenty of miscues early in the match.

The Lady Hippos jumped all over Lampasas early, building a fivepoint lead at 10-5 before extending it to 14-6.

Despite scoring five of the next seven points, Lampasas could not build any momentum, and Hutto scored eight consecutive points -- and nine of the final 10 points -- to win 25-12.

With the first set behind them, the Lady Badgers claimed their first lead of the match early in the second set at 5-4. Lampasas' lead grew to 22-15 after Jontell Ritz delivered one of her team-high seven kills.

With a seven-point advantage, Lampasas took its foot off the gas and almost let Hutto climb back into the set. The Lady Hippos scored six of the next eight points to crawl within four points, but Lampasas won the set when Falon Holland's block of Sydney Maxey's kill attempt scored the final point.

The third set saw the Lady Badgers suffer through another slow start, as Hutto went up 13-6. Lampasas committed a number of errors on kills and serve attempts, and the road team's advantage continued to grow, reaching 10 points at 22-12 before Lampasas made a run.

But it was not enough, and the Lady Badgers lost 25-19.

"I think they believe in themselves, but when things go the other way, they just have a hard time stopping the train from coming off the tracks," Rutland said.

It appeared as if the Lady Badgers would knot things up in the fourth set after building a 12-8 advantage, but Hutto refused to let the set slip away.

The Lady Hippos (1-0 District 25-4A) had a 12-5 outburst to go up 20-17 and, after a Lampasas timeout, they finished off the Lady Badgers 25-20 to claim the victory.

While the loss was disheartening for Lampasas, the team looked much different to Hutto head coach Janiece Nelson.

"I thought they were much improved from last year," the coach said. "They're going to be a good team."

Middle blocker Madison Morris was not at full strength after suffering a sprained foot during a match two weeks ago, but she still posted six kills, five digs, a solo block and assisted on another.

"Everything takes timing, but for the middle hitters timing is so critical," Rutland said of her junior who practiced just once since the injury.

Ritz, Kendal Conner, Sarah Bishop and Hailey Morrison all helped pick up the slack in the front row, as they accounted for 17 of the team's 29 kills.

Lampasas (9-14 overall, 0-1 district) returns to the court tonight, hosting Hendrickson (1-0 district) before playing its next five matches on the road.

"That will be a really important game," Rutland said. "We've got to find that mental toughness to push through."

***

Both subvarsity squads lost to Hutto in two sets by identical scores of 23-25, 15-25.

The freshmen's record is now 10- 10 and 0-1 in district, and the junior varsity is 9-11 overall and 0- 1 against district competition.