Eighteen combined kills from seniors Catherine Croft and Jamie Agnew Friday pushed the Hays Rebels volleyball team past the Lehman Lobos in a 25-6, 25-9, 25-7 senior night win at Bales Gym.
Hays (27-17, 13-4) solidified its playoff positioning with the victory and secured a third place finish in the 25-6A standings. The Rebels also extended its win streak to a season-best five matches in a row, while also notching the program’s 26th straight win over the rival Lobos.
On Tuesday, the Rebels closed the regular season with a four set win over the Anderson Trojans.
Adept serving played a key role for the Rebels during the game against the Lobos. Hays committed no errors out of 73 serve attempts, with the team notching 18 aces in the match. Junior Ryann Torres finished with a team high seven aces, while senior Kayla Tello finished with six aces. Torres also led the team with 26 assists.
On the defensive end, Croft finished with 13 digs and only one defensive error, while Torres finished with six digs in the match.
Rebel head coach Stephanie Coates said Friday’s win was a great team effort. Coates said tough serving and adept ball control helped Hays stay in system Friday and execute on offense.
On the defensive side, Coates said “great communication” helped Hays string consecutive points in a row and stay in control for the match.
She lauded the play of all six Rebel seniors who have all made key contributions so far this season. That includes senior Sierra Dittmar, who while sidelined this season due to an injury, was able to serve on several occasions against Lehman.
So far this season, Agnew leads the team with 382 kills while Croft has 359 through 119 sets played. Sophomore Maddie Krafka has 254 kills, while Torres so far has 178 kills.
The Rebel offense has tallied 280 total aces and has only committed 256 service errors. Torres has 1,073 assists this season, while senior Julia Bowen has a team-high 39 blocks.
Hays prepares for postseason play and is slated to take on New Braunfels Canyon in the bidistrict round of the playoffs.
Hays and Canyon will play Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. at Lehman High.
