By Kyle Roberts
RUSTON, La. — The Ruston High Main Gym saw so many aces Thursday night that even Kenny Rogers would have been jealous.
Totaling 22 perfects serves on the night, the Lady Bearcats (5-3) swept West Ouachita by finals scores of 25-11, 25-8 and 25-7.
“(Consistency at the service line) is what we’ve been waiting on,” Ruston High head coach Mandy Cauley said. “I’ve been waiting to see that. I felt like we got our confidence — sometimes, you just need to get a couple of reps underneath you that go the way you want. Serving was fantastic and I thought we executed well tonight.
“Sometimes, you learn from a loss. And we lost some last weekend, including a tough match against C.E. Byrd. Hopefully, that lit a fire underneath them to repair things and focus more on the smaller details.”
Junior Laia Canovas led the team with nine aces — eight of which came in the third set — while sophomore Baylor Cauley finished the night with sevens aces. Senior Harper Cauley finished with four perfect serves.
Kills-wise, Harper Cauley led the way with 11 kills, while sophomore Ava Crowe had a nice night with five kills and three blocks.
With eight matches under the belt, Mandy Cauley was asked where she felt like her team is so far through the season.
“We have so much potential,” Cauley said. “It’s going to be about consistency with this group. Offensively, we’re getting better every day and every week. I feel like those that have watched from August to now can see an improvement offensively. We’ve just had to learn how to mesh what our strengths and weaknesses are, and then what we’re going to do about those. And how we’re going to respond in the tough situations.”
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