By Kyle Roberts
RUSTON, La. — Following another district win Tuesday night over Pineville, Ruston will now set its sights on the Bearcat Brawl this coming weekend, which features teams from all over the state of Louisiana coming to the Ruston Sports Complex on Friday and Saturday.
Earlier in the week, the Lady Bearcats (7-3, 2-0 district) swept the Lady Rebels (3-7, 1-2 district) in straight sets, winning 25-17, 25-11 and 25-23 on the road in Central Louisiana.
“We did pull out a win (Tuesday),” Ruston High Head Coach Mandy Cauley said. “I’ve got to give my friend (Pineville Head Coach Olivia Guerrero) a pat on the back. She’s really helped her girls come a long way, and they’ve improved a tremendous amount. I’m glad we go the win, but we didn’t do it in the fashion that I feel like we’re going to need to do to beat tougher opponents. We allowed too many easy points and two handfuls of errors. And I think we need to do a better job controlling our side of the ballgame. We’ve got to improve.”
Junior Jane Ramsey finished the match with a team-leading 11 kills, while sophomore Brooklyn Bissell led the team with 10 digs with five kills and three aces. Junior Baylor Cauley added double-digit kills, as well, with 10 on the night to go with 17 assists and four aces.
This weekend, Ruston will host the 2025 Bearcat Brawl, featuring 20 teams from all over the state. The full roster includes:
- Haughton
- Barbe
- Sam Houston
- Westminster
- Airline
- CBA
- Northlake
- Byrd
- St. Amant
- Newman
- Ponchtoula
- Neville
- Captain Shreve
- Sulpher
- Northwood
- Denham Springs
- Dunham
- Parkway
- West Ouachita
“We’re always excited to host and to have that many teams from all over the state come to Ruston,” Cauley said. “It’s just a great opportunity for our fans to see really competitive, high level volleyball. We have some defending state champions here and some people that are going to be in the mix for state championships in their respective divisions. I’m just excited. We’re going to have jambalaya plates for sale, and we’re going to have the animal adoption tent again in our partnership with Ruston Animal Shelter. So it’s just gonna be a fun two days. And then, I’m just excited for our girls to compete at a high-level versus high-level competition, but with the advantage of having a home crowd.”
The Lady Bearcast will play Friday at both 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Court 2 against Dunham and Denham Springs, respectively. On Saturday, Ruston will play Barbe at 10 a.m., Newman at 11 a.m. and Sulphur at 1 p.m., all again on Court 2.
Admission to the Bearcat Brawl will be $12 per day or $20 for the whole weekend. Tickets will need to be purchased through the GoFAN app.
See full Bearcat Brawl schedule below.
