PHOTO BY RICHARD AKRIDGE Sophomore Hadley Brown attempts to deliver a kill during the Lady Badgers' loss at Marble Falls Tuesday. Three days later, the Lady Badgers still looked punch-drunk.

Lake Travis has that effect on lots of teams.

After being soundly beaten last Friday by Lake Travis, the No. 3 Class 4A volleyball team in the state, Lampasas returned to the court Tuesday at Marble Falls, and the outcome was not pretty.

Lampasas lost in straight sets (25- 20, 25-18, 25-22) in an ugly match where the Lady Badgers looked discombobulated and out of sync all evening.

"I don't know if that game [against Lake Travis] got in their head but, at this point, it is really worth it to give it everything you have," head coach Beth Rutland said. "I don't know if Lake Travis demoralized them beyond what I realized, but [our game] was not where we needed it to be."

The performance was a far cry from that displayed by the Lady Badger team that pushed Hutto to four sets and forced Hendrickson to fight back from two match points to win an amazing five-set battle earlier in the season.

Tuesday's defeat drops Lampasas to 0-4 in District 25-4A (9-17 overall) and severely stymies the team's chances of reaching the postseason.

Against the Lady Mustangs, Lampasas simply could not grab hold of the match when it needed to.

In the opening set, with Lampasas trailing by one point at 20-19, the Lady Badgers allowed Marble Falls to go on a 5-1 run and clinch the set.

In the second set, after climbing out of a 15-8 deficit to tie the score at 15-15, Lampasas went cold, and the Lady Mustangs had a 10-3 run to take the set and go up 2-0 in the match.

The third set saw more of the same as the Lady Badgers allowed a 21-21 tie to transform into a 25-22 loss, securing the match for the home team.

Perhaps the lone bright spot in the match was the play of Jontell Ritz.

The senior outside hitter switched positions with junior middle blocker Madison Morris. Morris is still getting over a foot sprain that has limited her explosiveness.

Ritz's performance at middle blocker impressed her coach.

"I thought she played a great game," Rutland said. "If there was anything more Jontell could have done, I don't know what it was.

"She's a leader. She's going to give it everything she's got, and it matters to her that everyone else is that involved."

Lampasas desperately needs to bounce back from its slump tonight against Killeen. The Lady Roos are the only other winless team in the district.

"We're going to see what we are made of against Killeen," Rutland said. "I hope tonight will tick them off and make them angry because they should not be satisfied with that [performance].

"They need to say 'Hey, this is worth pushing through' and make it happen."

***

The subvarsity squads suffered through similar disappointing outings.

The freshmen (10-13, 0-4) lost in three sets (25-17, 20-25, 20-25), and the junior varsity (9-14, 0-4) also fell in three sets (12-25, 25-20, 22-25).