By Kyle Roberts
Saturday morning offered at the Ruston Sports Complex offer Ruston High volleyball a glimpse of what home matches will look like this season as the Lady Bearcats hosted the 2023 Jamboree which saw over a dozen matches taking place on three separate courts.
“From a facilities and operations standpoint, I thought everything went well,” Ruston interim head coach Mandy Cauley said. “We’re still getting acclimated to playing everything here. And the Sports Complex was great and there were plenty of seats and accommodations. Everything was great; no complaints from any school, which is always a plus.
“And we had a great showing of fans; you just love to see people that are going to give up their time on a Saturday morning to come support the girls in the sports.”
The Lady Bearcats varsity squad saw action in two different one-set matchups; the first in a win against Neville by a final score of 25-15, before falling to Natchitoches Central 26-24 later in the morning.
“I thought we did really well against Neville,” Cauley said. “We executed everything pretty nicely. Our passing was on point, and so we were able to do some things offensively because of the good passing.
“Against Natchitoches Central, our girls showed a lot of resilience in the middle. We got down early and made some silly errors. Then we battled back and it was tied at 24. We’re still fine tuning some things, and that’s part of preseason.”
Cauley said the biggest takeaway from the preseason for her is seeing how the team has come together.
“I think we have a solid lineup,” Cauley said. “I think we have the people in the right positions to get the job done, and now, it’s just about execution.
Ruston opens its 2023 regular season at home Thursday, Aug. 31, at 6 p.m. against Parkway. The freshman team will start at 4 p.m. and junior varsity is set for 5 p.m.
