By Kyle Roberts
RUSTON, La. — Ruston High (10-6) dropped a four-set match to the Jackson Academy Raiders (44-4) on Monday in four sets falling 21-25, 21-25, 25-23, 23-25.
The Lady Bearcats trailed by as many as six points in the opening set but rallied to lead by as many as five points over the course of the match. There were 25 ties and nine lead changes across the four sets. Ruston’s biggest push came in the fourth set, when the Lady Bearcats ran off six straight points to go from a 6-7 deficit to a 12-7 lead. Jackson Academy answered with a run of its own, six straight points from 19-14 to 19-20, and closed out the set and the match from there.
Ruston took the third set 25-23 to force a fourth, but the Raiders — ranked No. 1 in Mississippi by MaxPreps.com — pulled away late for the win.
Freshman outside hitter Josie Cauley and freshman outside hitter Lily Bissell each had 10 kills to lead Ruston. Senior setter Baylor Cauley ran the offense with 32 assists and added six kills and four aces. Junior middle hitter Addie Powell contributed five kills and led Ruston with five blocks, while senior middle hitter Jane Ramsey had three blocks. Junior setter Bridget Crittenden had 11 digs and two aces, and junior libero Ellie Williams paced the defense with 21 digs.
Ruston High head coach Mandy Cauley said the match showed the progress her team still needs to make.
“I think we showed a lot of potential. We did some things really well,” Cauley said. “We just didn’t do them well consistently, and I think we started out a little bit intimidated. That was a really tough opponent. We’re still trying to realize that we’re a good team, and we’re in the process of figuring out that we can make good things happen. We just have to minimize our errors.”
Cauley said the team’s response after dropping the first two sets was encouraging, even if it came too late.
“I really like the ability of this team to keep responding,” Cauley said. “We showed resilience tonight. We just can’t wait until the third and fourth sets to find that. We’re not terribly disappointed in how we did. Of course, this is disappointing a little, but there were some bright spots. You just have to realize that we’re a good team that can be good, too.”
Cauley singled out Williams’ performance at libero.
“Ellie’s a dog, and she wants to win, and that’s why I trust her in the libero jersey, because of her mentality,” Cauley said. “I thought she did a good job tonight.”
Ruston finished with 38 kills, 37 assists, 14 aces, eight blocks and 58 digs as a team. Jackson Academy piled up 46 kills, eight aces and nine blocks among its 98 points.
Ruston opens district play Tuesday against Ouachita.
