By Kyle Roberts
Junior outside hitter Harper Cauley led the way for the Ruston High Thursday night in a non-district matchup with Loyola from Shreveport as the Lady Bearcats swept the Flyers in straight sets.
“Our goal going into this match was to maintain energy and focus,” Ruston head coach Mandy Cauley said, citing Tuesday night’s emotional win over district rival Natchitoches Central. “Tonight was a different tempo. We wanted to keep doing what we know how to do well. In set one, we made a couple of silly errors from communication errors. I felt like we overcame that and cleaned it up.”
Ruston took the first set by a final score of 25-11 with senior middle Hannah Rollins getting five kills to go with Cauley’s two kills and two aces.
Loyola’s most impressive set of the night came in the second one, but Cauley stopped any run at the end by the Flyers with three kills in a 5-0 run to end the set.
Cauley added two kills and three aces in the third as Ruston won 25-7, giving her a total of eight kills on the night with eight digs and seven service aces.
Rollins again notched double-digit kills with 11, while senior middle Jade Smith finished with nine kills.
Freshman setter Baylor Cauley finished the night with 23 assists.
Ruston hits the road next week for matches with Haughton, Pineville and Ouachita.
