PHOTOS BY RICHARD AKRIDGE The Lady Badgers and their coaches huddle up and relish their regular season-finale win over Killeen Tuesday evening. Lampasas needed to defeat Killeen to force a tiebreaker with Marble Falls for the district's final playoff spot. The two teams will battle it out to reach the postseason tonight at Burnet High School at 8 p.m. The Lady Badgers have developed a flair for the dramatic.

With a 1-7 record through the first eight games of the district schedule, the team's playoff aspirations were almost completely out of reach.

But the Lady Badgers fought, and in a must-win match against Marble Falls last Friday, Lampasas pulled out a five-set victory.

Then, in the most pressurepacked contest of the year, the Lady Badgers defeated Killeen in another five-set nail-biter (25-14, 27-25, 23-25, 19-25, 15-13) to force a playoff "play-in" match tonight against Marble Falls at 8 p.m.

"[Having a team that responds to pressure] is a pretty cool thing to have," head coach Beth Rutland said. "That's something that all the coaching or teaching or yelling in the world can't make happen.

Jontell Ritz emphatically calls for the ball. The senior finished with six kills and 12 of the team's 91 digs. "That has to be in them to do that and come together as a team."

In the opening sets of the seasonfinale, however, it appeared as if the match would be a runaway.

The Lady Badgers (12-20, 3-7 District 25-4A) fell behind in the opening set 7-2, before they trimmed the margin down to four points at 10-6.

Then sophomore Hailey Morrison went to serve and completely changed the momentum of the set.

Morrison served the Lady Badgers to 14 consecutive points, building a 20-10 lead in the process.

"We were kind of spinning our wheels and once they caught fire, they lit it up, and the game was over," Rutland said. "She [Morrison] has really good control of where she puts the ball, and she serves really smart and plays really good defense.

"When she's in the back row, we're making things happen."

The second set was a back-andforth affair as the teams battled their way to a 23-23 tie. Killeen had an opportunity to put the match away but could not, turning the ball over to Lampasas after a service error.

Prior to the match, the Lady Badgers honored their four seniors -- Sarah Bishop, Sam Gauna, Jontell Ritz and Jacqueline Hensley -- and their parents at midcourt. The Lady Badgers found themselves tied again at 25-25, but Madison Morris delivered two of her 11 kills to claim the set.

Despite having an 0-9 district record and being down two sets, Killeen never gave up. It earned its first victory in the third set after playing to 21-21 and 23-23 ties.

Then in the fourth set, the Lady Kangaroos knocked the wind out of Lampasas by jumping out to a 20-9 lead before tying up the match with a sound 25-19 win.

"They came out and played their best game, and we came out and weren't where we needed to be mentally," Rutland said. "That letdown of not being able to finish it and letting them back in shook us mentally."

The emotions carried over into the fifth and final set, where Killeen constructed a 5-1 lead.

Lampasas managed to knot things up at 5-5, but the Lady Roos went on a three-point run to reclaim the lead.

Following a Killeen error and Mariah Jones' ace, senior Sarah Bishop fired off a blistering kill to once again tie the score, 8-8.

At that moment, Rutland knew victory was within reach.

"I thought, 'It's ours to go get right now,' " the coach said. "There were times during the match, especially when the match was on the line, that I was like, 'Get Sarah the ball.' "

Bishop finished with team-highs of 20 kills and three aces.

Still, the Lady Badgers could not put Killeen away.

The teams would find themselves deadlocked at 10-10, 11-11, 12-12 and 13-13, before Morris scored to give Lampasas a match point.

Senior Jacqueline Hensley capitalized on the opportunity by serving up an ace to win the match and keep the team's playoff dream alive.

"We were down and could have let it go, but we had something worth playing for," Rutland said. "The teamwork and the hustle [were great], and we had an attitude that we would win."

Now, only Marble Falls (3-7 district) stands in the way of Lampasas and a date with the playoffs.

The two teams split their regularseason contests with each winning on their home court.

Tonight's match will be played on a neutral court at Burnet High School, and the stakes have never been higher for a team that went winless in district last season.

"We've had two games knowing the effort and the fight and the never-say-die attitude was there," Rutland said. "They know full well that when we don't play that way, Marble Falls beat us in three [sets].

"We've got work to do."

***

Both Lampasas subvarsity teams closed out their schedules with victories over Killeen. The freshmen were victorious in straight sets (25-19, 25-13), and the junior varsity won in three sets (21-25, 25-13, 25-14).

Lampasas' freshmen won their final two matches to end the year with a 13-16 overall record and a 3-7 district record.

The JV girls also finished the year with a pair of wins to put the team at 12-17 with a 3-7 district showing.