By Tony Adams for Temple College
Temple College Volleyball begins North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference play at 6 p.m. Wednesday with a match against Weatherford College.
The Leopards (7-10) have won three of their four home matches this season and hope to take that home-court momentum into Wednesday’s contest. The conference match follows a 3-0 loss to Wharton County Junior College on Monday and a close 3-2 loss at home against Dallas College Eastfield on Saturday.
Recap of last week’s matches
Temple College volleyball had four matches last week, which included three against ranked opponents.
On Sept. 11, the Leopards traveled to Brenham to take on Division I No. 13 Blinn College.
The Buccaneers established momentum early and swept the Leopards in three straight games. The scores of the match were 25-16, 25-10, and 25-12.
TC hosted two games on Sept. 12, playing Division III No. 15 Dallas College North Lake and Dallas College Richland.
The Leopards snapped their six-game slide with a powerful three-game sweep of the Blazers. The scores of the contest were 27-25, 25-18 and 25-14.
Kourtnee Morgan had 10 kills. Libby Flores had 18 assists. McKinley Cole added 15 helpers. Lexi Manning had 11 digs and Haley Tucker had 10.
The second game featured the Leopards against the Thunderducks. The teams split the first two games before Temple’s attack overpowered Richland for a 3-1 win. The scores of the match were 25-21, 21-25, 25-19 and 25-9.
Payton Koller had 15 kills. Shelby Pugh added 10. Flores had 23 assists and 10 digs. Pauline Gonzales had 21 digs and Cole had 19 assists to lead the way for the Leopards.
The highlight game of the week pitted the Leopards against undefeated Division I No. 1 Dallas College Eastfield.
In a thrilling five-game contest that pushed both teams’ limits, the Harvester Bees outlasted the Leopards in five games, 3-2. The scores of the contest were 22-25, 27-25, 23-25, 25-17, and 15-10.
Temple took the first and third games, which was the first and second times in the season that Eastfield had trailed in a match. The first game win also ended the Harvester Bees’ 17-set winning streak.
The Leopards had a season-high in block assists with 16, led by Lana Wright with five and Morgan with four.
The night featured a balanced attack, as Tucker had 10 digs and nine kills. Flores had 26 assists and eight digs. Cole had 17 assists and nine digs. Jordyn Carpenter had 13 digs and eight kills. Mia Dunaway added nine kills.
Temple finished the week with a 7-9 mark and followed with Monday’s loss to Wharton.
Following Wednesday’s match against Weatherford, the Leopards will host Southwestern Christian College at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Basketball in early preparations
The Leopards men’s and women’s basketball teams continue workouts in preparation for their 2024-2025 campaigns.
Women’s basketball will have their first tune-up against Paris Junior College on Oct. 4.
Men’s basketball will have their first game of the season on Nov. 2 against Fort Cavazos.
Baseball and softball updates
Temple College baseball had contests against Blinn College in Brenham on Wednesday and a pair of games against Angelina College and Navarro College in Lufkin on Friday.
They will take part in a JUCO All-Star weekend at Dallas Baptist this Friday and Saturday, and a fall matchup against Concordia this Saturday in Austin.
On Saturday, the Leopards softball team hosted a showcase of games against local select teams, which allowed the team to try players in different positions.
This week, softball will play UTSA on Friday in San Antonio.