ALTAIR — The Rice High School volleyball steam struggled Oct. 3 vs Yoakum High School as they were swept in three sets by a final score of 1225, 15-25, 12-25.
It was as simple as Rice couldn’t get any kind of offense going and had a lot of trouble stopping Yoakum on defense.
“We recognized early on that Yoakum was running a 5-1,” said Rice head volleyball coach Morgan Hunter. “We were trying to be mindful of when the setter was in the front row. The middle running the slide around them. We did not defend the middle well, so I would say future wise, that’s what we need to do a better job of.”
A tip ball by Rice’s Jordyn Fuller in the first set made it as close as 13-10 in favor of Yoakum, then Yoakum scored eight consecutive points on four balls in the net from Rice, a kill, an ace, and a tip ball to make it 24-12. The Lady Bulldogs went on to add one more kill to win the set 25-12.
Rice battled in the second set and even tied the game seven before making it 15-13 in favor of Yoakum with a few mistakes from Yoakum.
The Lady Bulldogs would score six points in a row to make it 21-13, which was followed by three kills and a set-winning ace to win it 25-15.
The third set was fairly close to begin with until a serve in the net from the Lady Raiders gave Yoakum a 15-9 lead.
Yoakum kept this same kind of lead throughout the rest of the set with two aces, a block, a tip ball, and a few more kills. A ball out of bounds from Rice won the Lady Bulldogs the set and match at 25-12.
