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The Columbus Lady Cardinals improved to 8-0 district record and 32-5 overall record for the season after defeating the Rice Lady Raiders in three straight sets on Tuesday, Oct. 3, in Altair.
The Lady Cards started the match a little slow on Tuesday night but would find their rhythm as the game went on and would close out the game because of it.
“I think we did well, I thought we started a little slow and made some mistakes early,” Lady Cards head coach Kayley Johns said. “We finished strong which is what we wanted to do.”
The Lady Cards and Lady Raiders battled it out in the first set with the Lady Raiders not backing down from the second ranked team in the state of Texas and kept the set close. The Lady Cards lived up to their ranking however and would shut down the Lady Raiders and take the first set 25-13.
The veteran leadership from the Lady Cards was on full display on Tuesday night with the team being in a tight contest early on. Johns credited her veterans for being a big reason why they have been successful all season long.
“I am definitely very fortunate to have great leadership on the court and I think we have a trust relationship,” Johns said. “I trust my setter (Sage Thomas) to call what we are running on offense and then between sets, it makes it easy for me to just critique the minor details.”
Lady Cards senior Sage Thomas was being heard throughout the gym Tuesday night calling out plays and instructions to her teammates to give them the best chance to win the set and eventually the match. Thomas also contributed 29 assists thanks to sophomore defensive specialist Caylie Neisner keeping the ball in play with 19 digs on their way to victory.
Senior outside hitter Ally Tribe is also a big part of that leadership group and would do what she does best Tuesday night. Tribe would finish the game with nine kills in total adding to her impressive career total.
“They are a good team, and they
Photos by Evan Hale
run quicks, and we are just not ready for that type of offense coming against us on defense,” Lady Raiders head coach David Leist said.
The Lady Raiders have a very young team and while their record may not reflect it they have been getting better and better each week.
The third set was fully controlled by the Lady Cards leading by as much as 22-7 at one point the Lady Raiders never stopped fighting for points.
With both teams looking ahead in their district schedule the Lady Raiders will look to turn things around against Industrial on Friday, Oct. 6, while the Lady Cards will want to continue their strong district season against Hallettsville on Friday, Oct. 6 with both enjoy home court advantage.
