Herron mixed up her serves and had 12 service points in the Lady Cougars’ 15-1 run in the second set. She also finished with five aces in College Station’s 25-19, 25-4, 25-15 sweep at Cougar Gym.
“She has come into her own, especially the last few matches, at the serving line,” College Station head coach Kacie Street said. “She runs the offense at that point. She’s doing a really good job.”
Rudder got off to a hot start in the first set, but College Station (22-12, 6-0) rallied and built a 13-10 lead on a kill by senior outside hitter Zoe Peterek, forcing a Rudder timeout. The Lady Rangers cut their deficit to two points before an attack error sparked a 5-1 College Station run. A kill by sophomore middle blocker Brielle Warren sparked another Lady Cougars run of four unanswered points before Rudder (21-18, 1-5) responded to get within 23-16.
Rudder junior libero Gracie Menchaca then dug a ball and knocked it over the net from the ground, but College Station sophomore Ana De La Garza tapped it back over for a kill, and despite three late Lady Ranger points, the Lady Cougars took a 1-0 lead.
“They fight hard, and that’s what we were expecting,” Street said of Rudder. “They were out-working us set one. That was one of the things we were talking about between sets one and two was they were out-working. They kind of let off a little steam and allowed us to control in the second and third set.”
Warren led the Lady Cougars with 10 kills, while junior middle blocker Shreya Sunkari added nine and had three blocks. Street said she liked the connection between Sunkari and junior setter Macy Nugent, who had 12 assists. Fellow setter Abby Peterek led College Station with 16.
“[Sunkari] had a phenomenal game,” Street said. “She and Macy — a lot of credit goes to Macy for being able to get her that ball as well. They’ve been working so well together.”
College Station carried the momentum from the second into the third set, jumping to an 8-2 lead. Rudder never got within six, and the Lady Cougars stretched their lead into double digits with a 5-0 run capped by an ace by senior libero Kate Georgiades, who led College Station with 10 digs.
For Rudder, senior outside hitter Madison Johnson had three kills, while senior setter Kaylee Herd had 10 assists and Menchaca had a team-high nine digs. Junior outside hitter Jewels Neason came off the bench and recorded a kill.
“She leads our bench, so I gave her a shot,” Rudder head coach Jacky Pence said. “I thought Jewels did a really nice job, so I was proud of her tonight.”
Rudder will try to snap a four-match losing streak at Waller at 6 p.m. Friday.
“I love my kids,” Pence said. “We improved so much last year. We’ve improved a lot this year, but it is really hard to compete with ... Click here to read full article
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