RHS volleyball enjoys successful home jamboree Saturday

Ruston High volleyball got one last opportunity to work out kinks and sort out lineup configurations at its own jamboree Saturday at the Ruston Sports Complex.

The jamboree matchups only went one set per contest, but the Bearcats still learned more about themselves in their games. Ruston faced two district foes, starting the morning with a 25-11 win over Neville before ending with a competitive, come-back-effort 26-24 loss to Natchitoches Central.

RHS head coach Amanda Cauley was happy to give her squad one last day of preseason work before the season opener but hopes some issues that showed up in the loss to Natchitoches get corrected.

“I’m grateful for another chance to play,” Cauley said. “I think we learned some things about ourselves today and know what to work on going into this week. We didn’t execute as much as I would have liked, but it’s still early and there’s plenty of time to work on those things. Don’t get me wrong, the day wasn’t awful. It’s just everything is building right now and we’re still fine-tuning some things.”

Ruston jumped out to an early lead over Neville and never looked back, using strong serving from Hannah Rollins to break away along with a balanced attack from Harper Cauley, Cala Wilson, and Rollins.

In the matchup with Natchitoches, the Chiefs started strong with a 4-0 lead that quickly turned into an 8-4 lead to force a Ruston timeout. The Chiefs return 6-2 middle blocker Lora Cole this season and her presence was felt throughout the matchup, forcing different attack approaches from the Bearcats.

Natchitoches looked ready to run away with the contest up 20-13, but Ruston wouldn’t go quietly.

Ruston’s Allie Richardson, a senior, started a strong string of serves that brought the game to 20-17 and eventually 24-19. The Bearcats brought the gym alive as the team went on a 5-0 run to tie it at 24-24 before the Chiefs went on to win it.

“I think we learned that we need to have a higher level of communication on the court and that we also need to step on the court bought into the game plan,” Cauley said. “Strategically, we suggested some things against (Natchitoches) and we didn’t start executing them until two-thirds of the game and I feel like if we had bought in right away the outcome would have been different.”

Ruston begins the season against Parkway on