By Spencer Spilman
The Hays Lady Rebels played a thrilling volleyball match against the Austin Lady Maroons Friday night. The match went all the way to the fifth game, although Hays fell short, losing 15-9 in the final game.
The Lady Rebels came out and dominated game one. Hays captain Kathryn Wristen, along with Caroline Craft, Kaitlyn Krafka, and the rest of the entire Lady Rebels jumped put to an early 13-3 lead and they never let up. Hays easily won game one 25-11.
Game two was a battle. Austin came out fighting. The Lady Maroons were led by Anna Carlson and Breanna Jackson who were dominating the net from the beginning of game two until the end of the match.
Lady Rebels’ Whitney Pond and Mackenzie Coates did everything they could to bring the team back into the game, but after falling behind 19-17, the Lady Maroons did what they had to do and finished off game two 25-22.
Austin came out and dominated game three from the start. Even with six kills from Lady Rebels’ Coates, Hays fell behind 14-8. Austin’s Carlson and Jackson continued to control the net. The two combined for nine kills in the game and the Lady Maroons won game three handily.
Hays was not ready to give up, and Wristen, Pond, and Coates were not going to let the team go down without a fight. The three players combined for 11 points in the game and got the Lady Rebels out to an 18-10 lead. Austin began to fight back near the end of the game with Emily Mawer and Carlson with four points at the net. However, Pond wanted it too much and got the game winning kill with a huge spike to close out game four 25-22.
Throughout the deciding game five, the tension was at its peak. Austin came out fast and quieted the Hays crowd. With Carlson and Jackson taking control of the match by themselves, the Lady Maroons took an early 9-3 lead in game 5. The Lady Rebels battled back thanks to a kill from Krafka and an ace from Pond to bring the score to 9-7. From there on out, Austin finished the game on a six to two run to close out the game and the match. Carlson and Jackson were just too much for the Lady Rebels to handle, and their dominance at the net was the key factor in the Lady Maroons winning the match. They won game five 15-9 and won the match three games to two.
The Lady Rebels will travel to Austin to play Lake Travis on Tuesday, and then back to Austin on Friday to play Westlake.