RICE — Lady Cardinals volleyball traveled to Rice High School October 3 and took down the Lady Raiders by a final score of 25-13, 25-12, 25-8. Columbus took advantage of their talent and athleticism by overpowering the match with their supreme skill on offense, ultimately making it too much to handle for Rice. “Every game matters is what we’re talking about right now,” said Columbus head volleyball coach Kayley Johns.
“It’s playing consistent, being consistent through these games. We’re trying to look at different people in different positions, so I was able to play everybody and just see the depth that we have. That’s exciting for us to know that if somebody’s having a bad game or whatever, we’ve got depth on the bench. They’re great teammates and cheering for each other still, even when somebody else goes out there. Trying to stay focused, one game at a time, and staying consistent through these games.”
Columbus senior setter Sage Thomas lofted up 29 assists for the event and has the ability to reach 30, 40, even 50 assists in one game. "It's definitely be cause of my whole team,” Thomas said on her success. “Having the amazing hitters that I have, for them to put the ball down, I can count on all of them. It obviously gives me more assists, but it makes our team better.”
Rice heads back to the drawing board looking to clean up a few things on both sides of the ball. “They run a lot of quicks,” said Rice head volleyball coach David Leist. “Their offense is very quick and we’re not quick enough to play defense against them. We’re in our spots, we’re just not ready for that quick of an offense. I give it to them. They’re good. I expect to see them back at state this year.”
Columbus won the first set 25-13 and had 15 total kills for it’s duration. They even went on a streak of points that consisted of eight kills. After handling the first set easily, the Lady Cardi nals went up big again in the second set and had a 19-7 lead after a few kills in a row, which consisted of back-to-back kills from senior outside hitter Ally Tribe. Columbus was able to capitalize on Rice’s mistakes and notched a few more kills throughout the rest of the set to win 25-12.
Rice was able to make the third set a little closer and grabbed a point to make it 6-4 in favor of Columbus, then the Lady Cardinals scored eight points in a row to surge ahead 15-5. They went on another point streak of nine and put it at 23-7 with two of the kills coming from senior Ella Schneider. One more kill from Schneider and a ball out of bounds from the Lady Raiders awarded Columbus the set and match at 25-8.
