RBHS Volleyball took the court Thursday evening, Sept. 14, for their second home match of the week. The Bruins squared off against Smith Cotton High School (SCHS), winning all three sets.
The Bruins were firing on all cylinders from start to finish in the end of the week matchup against SCHS, winning all three sets by at least nine points. The connection between sophomore setter Isabella Sohl and junior outside hitter Annika Black kicked off scoring for the Bruins in the first set. Sohl and Black would go on to connect for three kills before the Bruins won 25-16 in the first set. Head coach and civics teacher, Abigail Schmidt, was impressed with how Sohl ran the court.
“Isabella Sohl really impressed me with her ability to run our offense,” Schmidt said. “She had a good night tonight.”
The second set was highlighted by a long rally between the two squads. Senior libero Taylor Cornelius kept the rally alive through her save, resulting in a point won after Sohl set up a kill for fellow sophomore Maeve Rush. With there being a skill gap between the two squads, senior middle Liza Allen said it was important to not play down to the competition.
“Our game plan was to have unforced errors and to not make silly mistakes,” Allen said. “We wanted to keep our level of play high, even when our competition wasn’t great.”
The third set began with a block by junior middle Jocelyn Barrett. Barrett sat comfortably around the net for a majority of the game, and ended her night with 3 blocks. Other notable plays were the two aces of the set, performed by junior defensive specialist/setter Danielle Hecht and junior outside hitter Ava Renner. The Bruins won for the second time this week and said they were happy to do so after a couple rough losses against multiple top ten teams in the state. Junior outside hitter Caylee Coggins knew that last week was rough record-wise, but full of valuable lessons, helping the team to grow closer together.
“I think we worked more on working as a team rather than individual players,” Coggins said. “We are also still working out the right line ups, considering it’s the beginning of the season. We are improving week by week which is what matters.”
As the team learns about each other, on and off the court, they plan to continue improving with every game.
“Our team gained another win under the belly, helping with confidence moving forward,” Allen said. “Moving into next week, [while] playing Helias we are going to stay true to ourselves. [We will] play the high level of volleyball we know how to play.”
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