Ruston volleyball closes regular season with emotional sweep of Loyola
Ruston volleyball honored its senior class (from left) Ellie Koonce, Katelyn Rollins, Mariah White, Harper Cauley, and Rilee Atwood on Monday in the regular season finale. Photo by Darrell James
Emotions were high Monday evening in the Ruston High School gymnasium as Ruston volleyball closed out the regular season for Senior Night — honoring five Bearcats — in a clean sweep of Loyola Prep (25-14, 25-14, 25-9).
RHS head coach Amanda Cauley couldn’t hold back emotions after the match as she reflected on the impact of her five seniors (Harper Cauley, Mariah White, Ellie Koonce, Rilee Atwood, Katelyn Rollins), along with her connection with longtime official Chris Stevens, who will be retiring after the season.
The latter was the piece that finally let happy tears flow.
“As if tonight wasn’t already enough, that just ripped the band-aid off. I’m emotional. Grateful for Mr. Chris. So grateful for the seniors. They’re just amazing,” Cauley said. “I coached Mariah at A.E. Phillips with Harper that one year. I’ve known these girls a really long time in other sports like softball and basketball. So, watching them grow up has been one thing, but then watching them together as a team has been another thing completely. I really think all five of them have been so wonderful in their own ways. The way they each lead is very different, and they each add something so valuable to this program. I’m just grateful I got to be their coach.”
Ruston started hot and stayed that way for much of the night, jumping ahead 6-3 in the first set as sophomore Ava Crowe scored three of the team’s first six points with strong kills. Ruston then extended its lead to 12-6 to force a Loyola timeout. The break didn’t help the Flyers much as the Bearcats went on a 10-5 run to pad the lead before eventually closing the first frame 25-14.
The second set saw Loyola take an early 5-4 lead thanks to miscommunication by Ruston’s defense, but the advantage would soon evaporate as the Bearcats went on an ensuing 10-3 run to jump ahead 14-8. From there, Ruston continued its strong attack with Atwood putting up 3 kills in the set alone to pull ahead 23-11 as White, Rollins, and Kyndal Fobbs each had an ace to maintain serve control for Ruston to win the set 25-14.
The third and final set was all Ruston from start to finish, with the Bearcats jumping out 10-0 before Loyola could blink. Ruston also went on a separate 9-2 run to lead 20-4 before closing out the set and match with a 25-9 win.
Crowe led Ruston with 10 kills and 3 blocks, while Atwood had a season-high 8 kills. Koonce, along with sophomore Jane Ramsey, had 4 kills. Courtney Harris, a sophomore, had 3 kills as well. Baylor Cauley, a sophomore, had 28 assists and 6 aces.
Senior outside hitter Harper Cauley, Ruston’s leader in kills and digs, sat out Senior Night due to an illness. Despite playing without their top attacker, the Bearcats handled business, according to Amanda Cauley.
“The seniors did a great job. I really love the way Ellie and Courtney stepped up. Katelyn came in and had some great serves,” Cauley said. “I think the team did what they needed to do. And so really, now we’re going to focus on getting ready for playoffs. It’s going to be a faster tempo than that and a little bit more powerful. We had to take care of business tonight (Monday), but we’ll really focus on playing a tougher, faster offense and a tougher defense.”
Ruston ( 23- 13) now awaits its playoff destination, with LHSAA volleyball brackets set to be released Monday. RHS is currently No. 15 in the unofficial Division I power rankings.
