By Kyle Roberts
It was “home, sweet home” for the Ruston High Lady Bearcats Tuesday night in their season opening sweep over Haughton in three straight sets 25-15, 25-18 and 25-15.
And the match just so happened to be the first in the Ruston High main gymnasium in over a year.
“It was great being back here,” Ruston High head volleyball coach Mandy Cauley said. “It just brings back so many memories from when my kids were little, and now one is playing for the junior high and my other two are playing on this court. This place feels like home. And it’s the home of this program so it’s good to be back.
“Overall, it feels good to win, but I just feel like we’re still not playing to our potential. I didn’t feel like we were as aggressive as should have been. We needed to do a better job of covering our hitters when they attack. We got blocked a couple of times when weren’t there, but I’m nit-picky, so I’m looking for all the details of what we can do better.”
Despite a sluggish first-set start and falling behind 0-4, the Lady Bearcats found their stride with a solid run, taking an 8-7 lead on a service ace by senior outside hitter Harper Cauley. She’d finish the first set with four kills, a block and an ace to give the Volley ‘Cats a jolt en route to the 25-15 set win.
For the second set, Ruston fell behind 17-10 before stringing together a 14-0 run led in large part by sophomore Baylor Cauley’s serving.
“She got us out of that hole,” Cauley said of Baylor. “What we needed was some consistency. From the service line, we worked on serving tough, fast and flat. Today, that was what we were trying to apply from the service line. And she got back there and really did it. I was grateful for her steady presence.”
Last season, Baylor was predominantly in the role of setter. This season, however, she will be seeing more time at the outside hitter position with the addition of Laia Canovas to the roster, an exchange student from Spain.
“I think it’s really valuable to have (Baylor) as an attacker,” Cauley said. “She scores a lot as an attacker, and she blocks really well. And (Canovas) got more comfortable as the match went on. After the first set, she said “I’m frustrated — I’m not making good decisions.” I told her she was right, and then she went and fixed it. She got really aggressive at the service line. I thought she did a tremendous job there.”
Sophomore Ava Crowe turned in an eight-kill performance for the night to go with three blocks. Harper Cauley finished with seven kills and eight aces.
“Ava played phenomenally,” Cauley said. “I thought she was very aggressive. She applied everything we’ve been working on in practice today, and it was efficient. She’s improved from two weeks ago to this point. I’m tremendously proud of the way she played tonight with her poise at the net and her big presence.”
Quick Stats:
Harper Cauley: 10 kills, 13 digs, 3 aces, 2 blocks
Baylor Cauley: 4 kills, 7 digs, 14 assists, 7 aces
Ava Crowe: 8 kills, 3 blocks
Jane Ramsey: 3 kills, 2 blocks
Kyndall Fobbs: 10 digs, 2 aces
Mariah White: 9 digs
Laia Canovas: 7 digs, 11 assists, 3 aces
Ruston will return to action Thursday, Sept. 5, at Airline High. Varsity begins at 6 p.m.
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