Ruston volleyball faces No. 7 C.E. Byrd in pivotal rematch

Ruston volleyball wants its revenge against No. 7 C.E. Byrd (26-8) and is hoping to get strong community support in attendance to help get the job done.

The Bearcats – ranked No. 15 in the latest Division I power ratings – have a chance to improve their playoff seeding and overall confidence in a pivotal home matchup tonight with the top 10 Yellowjackets at the RHS gymnasium in a rematch of a back-and-forth battle from earlier in the season when Byrd defeat Ruston 3-2 (24-26, 25-21, 18- 25, 25-20, 4-15) on Sept. 10 in Shreveport.

RHS head coach Amanda Cauley knows the Bearcats weren’t at their best last time they faced the Yellowjackets but still took the match to five sets. This time around, she’s expecting stronger execution from her squad.

“Going in, we have to be better in our serve receive. We had a poor serve receive night at Byrd and we were just one step behind defen-sively,” Cauley said. “I remember we had about three girls that were just off their regular mojo and that hasn’t happened since. It just wasn’t our night. We did fight hard and just fell short. But I can tell the girls are locked in. It’s a chance for vengeance, a rematch to handle what we didn’t handle last time.”

Byrd put up 24 service aces and held Ruston to a .120 hitting percentage as a team in September – two areas Cauley expects to improve this time around with sophomores Ava Crowe and Jane Ramsey stepping up in recent matches, while usual attackers Harper and Baylor Cauley have remained steady as the anchors of the offense. Harper had 21 kills in the fiveset thriller while Baylor had 9 kills.

Crowe and Ramsey combined for just 6 kills in the match, but Cauley is confident her two young middles have grown up since then and will give the Bearcats their best tonight.

Through 11 matches in October, Crowe is second on the Bearcats in kills (54) and first in total blocks (19), while Ramsey is fourth in kills (21).

“Ava and Jane are not the same players they were in September. I’ve seen them grow leaps and bounds,” Cauley said. “ They’ve developed so much confidence and they’re going to be extremely critical against Byrd. We need to be able to spread out our attack to various positions and we need to be able to have a good block on defense.

“Byrd throws a lot at you, and we need to be able to handle that if we want to be successful. They had big shoes to fill this year and I can tell they’re really in a good spot right now.”

Ruston will also have home court advantage on its side tonight, an intangible Cauley hopes delivers energy and support to the Bearcats. Ruston, currently 9-0 at home, has not lost on its home floor since Sept. 27, 2022, and would leave the door open to enter the top 10 before playoff seeding is official with a win over Byrd.

If a spirited crowd is behind them, Cauley likes the Bearcats’ chances to take care of business in the rematch.

“I think the key is to stress the importance of what this win would do for us. Byrd is ranked in the top 10 and if we win, we get those power points which would be huge,” Cauley said. “People need to know that by showing up, it gives the girls so much energy and motivation. They love to get other people pumped with how they play, so we need a really good crowd to come support us.”

Ruston has not dropped a set on its home floor since Sept. 27, 2022, and has held its last 12 opponents at home to under 20 points. This season, the Bearcats have outscored opponents 675340 at home and have held each opponent under 19 points this fall.

The No. 15 Ruston Bearcats (21-12) host the No. 7 C.E. Byrd Yellowjackets (26-8) tonight at 6 p.m. at the RHS gymnasium.