By Kyle Roberts
RUSTON, La. — It was as close to a playoff atmosphere that you could ask for.
The Ruston High Main Gym home side was nearly packed with students wearing red t-shirts with “Beat Byrd” emblazoned in white on the front. And as senior Harper Cauley planted the final kill of the night, the crowd erupted to cheer the No. 15 Lady Bearcats (23-12) as they swept the No. 7 Byrd Yellowjackets (27-9) by final scores of 25-23, 25-18 and 25-14.
And factor in some sweet revenge after being beaten at Byrd back in September in five sets, well, it was a recipe for a great Bearcat night.
“I’m just unbelievably proud of the way the girls came in and played tonight,” Ruston High head volleyball coach Mandy Cauley said. “Their execution and their chemistry was what we’ve been working on. That’s what I stressed in practice yesterday. I literally made them stand in a circle, look each other in the eye and say “We have to do this together.” We said it over and over. We said it pregame– it’s can’t be one person or two people. It has to be the whole team. Everybody on the court, on our bench, the Cat Box, the coaching staff — it was an incredible victory.
“The atmosphere was great for both teams. It’s beneficial to get everybody ready for what we’re about to face (in the postseason) in the next week or so.”
The Lady ‘Cats and the Yellowjackets practically traded runs in the first set. Byrd got up to a 21-17 lead before Ruston stormed back to take set one on an 8-2 run.
“I have to give it to our leaders — they knew what this win meant,” Mandy Cauley said. “We lost the first set (at Byrd) 25-23, and I kept saying that if we had won that set, it would have been a different ending. I’m so proud of how we pulled out of that deficit to finish. It helped us carry the momentum into the other sets because we got Byrd off their game.
Harper Cauley took over in the ensuing set, getting eight of her 14 total kills for the night in the second set. And set three saw two crucial blocks from both junior Courtney Harris and sophomore Jane Ramsey.
Ruston’s sweep keeps the Lady Bearcats perfect at home as they have not lost a single set in the Main Gym this season.
“We just need to schedule more home games,” Cauley said before laughing and talking about playoff seeding. “This win will hopefully help us out hosting a round one playoff match. They carry a lot of power points, so that will be good for us.”
Ruston High has only two matches remaining during the regular season: at Calvary Baptist on Saturday, Oct. 26 and then against Loyola Prep on Monday, Oct. 28 for Senior Night. The Lady Bearcats will need to finished No. 16 or higher in the power rankings to host a first round home playoff match.
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