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The number two ranked team in the state, the Columbus Lady Cardinals, improved to 9-0 in district play as well as extended their winning streak to 13 games.
The Lady Cardinals would defeat the Hallettsvi lle Brahmas in three straight sets Friday night in Columbus to extend their winning streak but the match would start off a little rocky.
The Lady Cardinals would hit the ground running in the first set jumping out to a 7-1 lead quickly to put pressure on the visiting Brahams. The Brahams would be forced to call timeout and set the game down which was fruitful for their team.
The Brahams worked themselves back into the set after the timeout closing the gap on the scoreboard.
Cutting the Lady Cardinal lead from 13-6 to 13-10 the Brahmas were battling hard to keep the game alive but the veteran leadership of the Lady Cardinals would shine through and they would take the set 25-14.
Seniors Ally Tribe and Sage Thomas were in the heart of the Lady Cardinals’ offense to close out the first set. Tribe and Thomas showed why they are one of the best duos in Texas high school volleyball, contributing on the rest of the Lady Cardinals points to end the set.
Tribe would finish the match with 17 kills with Thomas racking up 26 assists. The duo combined for 14 digs with sophomore Caylie Neisner contributing nine more digs to help keep the ball alive for her team.
After settling the first set down, Lady Cardinals head coach Kayley Johns praised the veteran leadership.
“This team is very calm natured. I feel like we have great leadership on the court and they are able to pick each other up or just re-focus each other,” Johns said. “I think because we have high expectations we all trust and listen to each other.”
The Lady Cardinals took time to settle down between the first and second set and get back to their gameplan to avoid another offensive surge from the Brahmas.
“Mainly we said to just play our game,” Johns said. “Our game is speed up whenever we can. We noticed on film that when we went fast we were producing points. They (Brahmas) are a young team and they are going to be really talented but when we sped up we were able to catch them out of their system and take advantage.”
The Lady Cardinals would be in full control of the second set after getting back to playing their style of volleyball. The net was secured tightly allowing the offense to just have fun.
The Lady Cardinals won the second set 2512 and headed into the third set with a ton of confidence. That confidence translated well on the court, continuing to dominate until the end of the match.
The third set finished with a score of 25-9 closing out the match for the Lady Cardinals. While the win extends a winning streak and improves their district record Johns said they aren’t worried about any of that.
“We are really concerned with ‘in a row’ right now. We have a locker room full of girls they show up looking to be better than yesterday,” Johns said. “We tell them all the time you have to want to be 1% better everyday. We are just focusing on winning the very last game and taking things one day at a time.”
The Lady Cardinals still have five games left on their district schedule but the next sees them traveling to play the Edna Cowboys on Tuesday, Oct. 10, in Edna.
