Austin — The postgame pep talk was the same as it has been for much of the season, consoling but also firm that the good times are still to come for the Hays Lady Rebels (9-21), who lost Tuesday night in four sets (23-25, 29-27, 25-15, 25-20) on the road to the Austin Lady Maroons (18-13).

“I feel like we’ve had the same conversation after a lot of our matches,” said Hays head coach Erica Walther. “I’d like to see a little bit more fight in them.”

Despite a promising start Tuesday night, the rough 2010 season continued for the Lady Rebels. After winning a close first set, Hays would drop the second and fourth sets by only a couple points in heartbreaking fashion to a Lady Maroon team that came into the game with nearly twice as many victories as Hays.

“It was a tough break for the girls,” Walther said. “It was another rough loss. We’re young and a lot of our losses have been really close, and we’re just right there on the verge and I’m hoping we’re going to peak going into district play.”

Senior middle blocker Jessica Williams believes the Lady Rebels need to do a better job of communicating on the court despite whatever lead their opponent may have.

“We really got quiet for a lot of the match,” Williams said. “Austin High outplayed us and we lost focus. It was really close, came down to just a few points for multiple matches, but they just wanted to win more, I guess.”

In spite of the loss, the Lady Rebels played like a team and excelled at spreading the ball around as nearly every player contributed on offense and defense, as no one individual dominated more than one statistical category.

Kelsea Sadler led Hays with 10 kills while Dezaray Garner led the team with four aces and Hannah Ramsey collected a team-high 28 assists. On defense, Sarah Reyes led with 11 digs while Ramsey and Emily Clark each had three blocks for the Lady Rebels.

As the Lady Rebels prepare for their next game, Walther knows as well as any coach that it’s the close losses that hurt the most. Still, she admits there is much her players needs to work on before they begin playing district opponents in just a few weeks.

“It definitely could have gone either way tonight,” she said. “Our whole game needs to improve. Our server speed and passing needs to be more consistent and we need to work on our blocking, too.”

Junior middle blocker Lauren Burke is optimistic that the team’s hard work is about to coalesce into the fluid, strong level of play they’ve been gaining ground on achieving all season.

She admits it has to start with Hays not just improving on its mechanics, but also the intangibles as the Lady Rebels must strengthen their resolve.

“We got to hit to kill,” Burke said. “We need to improve on our passing and on our spirit, which is definitely going to get better as the year goes on. It’s always getting better.”