By Kyle Roberts
With just over a month to go before the first official match of the season, the Ruston High Lady Bearcats hosted a team camp back in Ruston’s gyms this week with the varsity team winning two of three matches and the junior varsity team sweeping all three.
Ruston High Head Coach Mandy Cauley talked about seeing the progression of her team in their matches and the competition they saw during this offseason.
“We did a lot of things well,” Cauley said of her team’s performance overall. “We served tough, and being tougher at the service line is something that I’ve asked the girls to focus on. We did miss some serves at critical times, so we want to keep working on that. Serve receive and passing was really good overall, and we executed our offense using a variety of hitters. I thought there was one set where we had a passing breakdown that got us, and we followed with a lot of errors.
“We have a young offense, and we got to see what they can do under pressure.”
Participating in the camp were Ruston’s varsity and junior varsity along with Benton High, Neville High, Calvary Baptist, El Dorado High School and The Force, a volleyball team comprised of homeschooled students from the Shreveport area.
Ruston High faces the task of replacing an elite offensive unit after the graduation of five seniors who led the program to its first appearance in the state championship tournament in 2023. Seniors Shelby Freeman, Allie Richardson, Hannah Rollins, Jade Smith and Cala Wilson have all graduated, leaving the team looking to reload heading into the new season.
Cauley, however, is bullish on the team she has coming back, identifying two players who are currently stepping into needed veteran roles.
“I’m getting continued leadership from Harper (Cauley) — she’s the fighter and a great leader on our team,” Cauley said of her outside hitter and oldest daughter. “I’ve also seen tremendous growth from senior Riley Atwood — she’s a multi-sport athete in softball and soccer. She’s very bought in this year and works very hard. She’s missed very little this summer and is always ready to work.”
The varsity team bested both El Dorado and Benton while falling to Calvary. The JV squad swept through El Dorado, Neville and The Force.
No official scoring nor statistics were kept during the matches.
Ruston High opens the regular season Tuesday, Sept. 3, at home against Haughton in a return to the main gymnasium on campus after a season at the Ruston Sports Complex due to construction.
