Lawrence High senior Maddy Orth lofts a shot over the net past Manhattan High freshman Mari Jo Massanet. The Lions lost their three matches on Tuesday at LHS.

Lawrence High sophomore Mary Coldsnow lifts a shot over Manhattan High junior defender Shelbi Doehling during the first match of their home volleyball quad Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008 at LHS.

Car companies often proudly boast about their vehicle’s ability to sprint from 0 mph to 60 in 3.7 seconds.

Tuesday night, the Lawrence High volleyball team rode in a car powered by Fred Flintstone.

At their second home quad of the season, the Lions fell in six straight sets, losing matches to Manhattan, Washburn Rural and Topeka Hayden. In each, LHS had difficulty getting started.

“That was the first time we’ve done that all year. That was rare,” LHS coach Stephanie Magnuson said. “Usually we have trouble in the middle of matches.”

Throughout most of the night, the Lions fell behind quickly. In each instance, junior Carrie Klemencic said the early holes came because of the team’s struggles on the opening play.

“It’s mostly our confidence,” Klemencic said. “If we don’t get a good pass and set it up for a kill right away, we get down and feel like we have to get the next one. That pressure just builds and we start making mistakes that we shouldn’t.”

In the opening match, the Lions hung tough with Manhattan, losing 25-18 and 25-19. In the second match, LHS nearly forced Washburn Rural to three sets.

After trailing, 17-12, the Lions reeled off four straight points behind the strong serving of senior Morgan Harris. But as soon as LHS closed the gap to 17-16, Rural scored the next two. Two points later, the Lions scrapped for one of the longest rallies of the night to close the gap to 21-19. But, again, on the next two points LHS mental lapses led to easy points for Washburn Rural.

The Lions lost the first game, 25-21, and fell flat in the second, 25-10.

“Tonight was a tough quad, but I thought we worked well together as a team for most of the night,” sophomore Lillian Schoenwise said. “We’re getting there.”

Between the second and third matches of the night, Magnuson had a talk with her team about not giving in. Schoenwise said the speech was warranted.

“Everyone was getting frustrated with themselves,” Schoenwise said. “We weren’t really getting mad at each other. But we pulled it together and nobody ever gave up.”

That showed in the final match, as the Lions pushed Hayden to the limit. After another sluggish start, the Lions dropped Set No. 1, 25-12. But in the finale, LHS rallied from a 7-1 deficit and actually pulled ahead midway through the match. A 9-4 run evened the score at 12-12 and LHS took its first lead at 14-13. The Lions built their lead to as many as three behind steady defense and solid play at the net from senior Tayler Tolefree and sophomore Mary Coldsnow.

With the Lions leading 20-18, Coldsnow cut a shot across the net that landed on the Wildcats’ side and seemed to give LHS a 21-18 lead. A conference by the officials said otherwise. After review, the ref on the floor determined that Coldsnow’s shot hit the antenna and therefore was out of bounds. Point Hayden.

The let down led Hayden to a 25-23 victory.

Despite being swept, Magnuson said she was pleased with the way her team competed.

“We did a good thing,” she said. “We played well against teams that are better than us and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s been a bit of a broken record the last couple of weeks because we’ve been getting so close and that’s discouraging. But we will get there.”

Next up, the Lions will travel Saturday to the Emporia Invitational.