By Kyle Roberts
RUSTON, La. — Ruston High won its second match of the 2025 season with a four-set win over the Parkway Panthers by final scores of 25-16, 21-25, 25-15 and 25-18.
“We showed some resilience,” Ruston High Head Coach Mandy Cauley said in regards to dropping the second set and winning the match. “We were tested, which is good — we need that. We got rattled, and then we grew from it and learned from it. I tip my hat to Parkway — I told their coach that they had us rattle. I credit them for a really great set two. I got to see some grit from somep layers. We tried some different things and had to be creative — the girls responded really well.”
The Lady Bearcats and Panthers fought a back-to-back battle for most of the first set before Ruston began to pull away. During an 8-4 run by the Bearcats midway through the set, Cauley had three kills by herself to secure the first stanza. Junior Jane Ramsey added three kills, while sophomore Bridget Crittenden added three, as well. Sophomore Brooklyn Bissell had two kills with two aces, while a pair of aces by sophomore Addie Powell won the set 25-16.
Good serving by both Bissell and Cauley put Ruston up by as much as 9-1 to start set two. Parkway, however, answered with a 8-3 run to cut the lead to 12-9 as only Ramsey was able to notch a kill during the stretch. After a Ruston timeout, Cauley added a kill to put the Lady Bearcats up 13-9. Just five points later, Parkway was able to take the lead 14-13.
After trailing 16-13, the Lady Bearcats got a couple of back-to-back kills by Cauley and Bissell before tying the set 16-16. Parkway would outscore Ruston 9-5 for the rest of the set to take the game 25-21.
Parkway picked up right where it left off to start set three and went up 5-0 before Cauley got a kill to cut the score to 5-1. Ruston would tie the set 6-6 after their own run capped by a kill by Crittenden. After falling behind 14-11, Ruston got its first block of the night by Ramsey and Cauley before getting two more points to tie the set 14-14. Ramsey added a couple of kills to give Ruston a 17-14 lead during a short Lady Bearcat run.
And perhaps the play of the night went to sophomore Ellie Williams, who took a hard Parkway attempt off her face, only for the ball to sail back over the net and land safely on the court, giving Ruston a point at 19-14. Once Cauley got the ball back to serve shortly after, Ruston would get the set three win 25-15.
“Ellie is very resilient, and she’s a fighter,” Cauley said of her dig and kill. “That’s one of the things I told her when we moved her up to varsity. She’s here for her grit and because she’s a competitor. I just love her dog mentality — when she took that hit, she got up. I loved what she showed me tonight.”
Following some back and forth to start the fourth set, Ruston got a pair of kills from Cauley to go up 7-5. Later in the set, Ruston extended its lead to 18-12 following an ace by Williams and then a kill by Bissell, leading to a Parkway timeout. Ruston finished the set off for the 25-18 win.
The Lady Bearcats will hit the road and return to action today to take on Epsicopal School of Lafayette.
