The Rudder volleyball team bounced back from a loss in the second set to finish strong and beat Waco University 25-17, 22-25, 25-12, 25-16 in nondistrict action Tuesday night at The Armory.

Taylor Baker found her swing in the latter two sets, accounting for half of her 14 kills while helping the Lady Rangers (18-13) pull away for the win.

Rudder came from behind to tie the second set at 14 and swapped the lead with the Lady Trojans back and forth before University closed it on a 4-1 run to even the match.

“University used to be in our district, and they kind of look like us — they always have a lot of good athletes and stuff, but maybe not as experienced as the teams that we have in our district now,” Rudder coach Jacky Pence said. “When you play teams like that, they can kind of get hot. They did really well and kept some crazy balls in play, and we kind of got surprised about it. I made a little bit of a change in the lineup, and that changed the dynamic.”

Baker dropped two kills in the first four points of the third set to give the Lady Rangers a spark.

The Lady Trojans led 4-3 when an Asani McGee block evened it. University then mishandled back-to-back serves by Baker, and Rudder put together a 6-0 run to surge ahead 9-4.

Aces by Bre Brown helped the Lady Rangers stretch their advantage to 12-5, then Jordan Little scored four aces to drive a 7-0 run that pushed the lead to 19-6.

Rudder cruised the rest of the way, taking advantage of a few Lady Trojans errors down the stretch to close out the 25-12 win and grab the match advantage.

A pair of kills by Baker early in the fourth set helped the Lady Rangers build a 12-8 lead before a brief University rally cut the lead to one. But a service error by the Lady Trojans opened the door for a pair of Kaylee Herd aces and a 6-0 run for Rudder.

Now up 18-11, the Lady Rangers steadily pulled away from there, a kill by Madison Johnson and a pair of aces by Makenna Muth ending the match on a 3-0 run.

“At times I liked what I saw a lot,” Pence said. “We have this tendency since we’re a little better than we were last year that when we’re doing good we relax. I haven’t found the magic words yet to make sure we stop doing that. I thought we rebounded nice after that game two and came back out and got back in business.”

Johnson accounted for much of her team-high 16 kills in the first two sets, especially in the first as her swing helped keep Rudder in the hunt before a series of University miscues allowed the Lady Rangers to pull ahead. A kill by Baker and three by Johnson then drove a 5-1 run that got Rudder to set point at 24-16 before a double-touch violation by the Lady Trojans ended it.

McGee finished with 10 kills and three blocks, while Baker had 12 digs. Herd had 44 assists, nine digs and four aces. Muth had 12 digs, and Gracie Menchaca had nine digs.

“Taylor Baker had a nice game for us tonight,” Pence said. “She was scoring effectively all different ways. I like it when somebody steps up that’s not always the one that people look to to be our kill leader.”

Rudder will continue nondistrict play Friday against Centerville at The Armory.

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NOTES — Rudder’s JV improved to 5-2 with a 25-5, 25-14 victory. Rudder’s freshmen (4-3) also won 25-19, 25-15, and the Rudder freshman Green (6-2) won 25-16, 25-17.