By Kyle Roberts
RUSTON, La. — The Ruston Sports Complex was the place to be for volleyball fans Friday and Saturday as 21 teams from both North and South Louisiana packed the gym for wall-to-wall high school volleyball action over the weekend.
“I think this was the most competitive tournament to date,” Ruston High head coach Mandy Cauley said. “So many teams were playing at a high caliber. The competition was intense and fun to watch.”
Ruston High played in five matches on Friday and Saturday (Dunham, Sulphur, Notre Dame, Barbe and Westlake) — all strategically against South Louisiana volleyball teams in efforts to better prep for a post-season playoff run. All matches were best-of-three as opposed to best-of-five as is usual for the regular season. The Volley ‘Cats saw some good things over the weekend despite only picking up one win — a three-set victory over Barbe on Saturday morning by scores of 16-25, 25-17 and 15-9.
“As for the us, we played a lot of teams closely but are lacking the grit and execution required to close out the close games,” Cauley said. “I hope it lights a fire within the team to work even harder to accomplish our district and post season goals.”
The entire list of teams includes: Ruston, Airline, West Monroe, West Ouachita, Byrd, Calvary, Dunham, Fontainebleau, Calvary, Isidore Newman, St. Michael the Archangel, Sam Houston, Barbe, Ponchatoula, Notre Dame, Northwood, Parkway, Westlake, Covington, Sulphur, and Haughton.
The Lady Bearcats return to action Tuesday, Sept. 24, at West Monroe to resume district play.
