19-3A Volleyball: Lady Yoe lose barn burner to Rockdale

Making strides. That has been the goal for the Lady Yoe volleyball team for the last three years. In order for the program to get to where they want to be, which is in the playoff hunt, they know they will have to compete with some of the top dogs in 19-3A.

Heading into district play on Tuesday, there may have not been a tougher opponent than Rockdale, which entered the contest with an overall record of 22-9 and was the only team in the district to be included in the latest rankings, coming in at number 25.

It was not a win for Cameron, but it was as close as it could have been in what was a 18-16 loss in a winner-take-all fifth set.

“I thought the kids came out with the right mindset,” Cameron coach Kamol Nohe said. “We want to play the game and we want to compete but we just fell a bit short. We know we need to do a little more tweaking and move things around a bit to get there, but it’s exciting to seem them compete.”

Cameron got off to a hot start in the first set, cruising to the 25-15 final. The Lady Yoe jumped out to a 3-0 lead after a Madison Brunson kill and a pair of Rockdale errors, and that lead eventually ballooned all the way up to 10-2 and it never got any closer than that.

“I think in the first game we took Cameron for granted,” said Rockdale coach Jennifer Keen. “Cameron has improved tremendously from last year and they are a totally different team and they played a heck of a game tonight. It just shows us that we can’t take them for granted when they come to us.”

Part of that improvement has been the play of Carley Tucker, which had 8 kills in the opening set and finished the evening with a total of 30 kills.

“It’s hard to put all the things on one person and that is what we discussed,” said Nohe. “It’s great to have one player that can put the ball down and that we can count on, but we need the others to step in and support a little more. But, it’s always nice to have that go-to person and it’s hard to stop her.”

Rockdale senior middle-backer Kaylee Criswell was a big reason for early turnaround. Criswell had 227 kills on the year and did quite a bit more damage in this one, totalling 16 kills on the evening.

“Criswell is a huge factor for us,” said Keen. “She was on the B team in junior high and we have been working with her and she has been playing club ball this year, and she’s a different player.  

We are going to count on her tremendously throughout the year.”

Besides the fifth, the second set was the most competitive, which saw Rockdale tie up things with a 25-23 final.

Rockdale took advantage of 15 Yoe errors in the third and cruised to a 25-15 final and 2-1 set lead. Cameron did rebound in the fourth, stretching the lead up to 19-13 before forcing the fifth in a 25-20 final.

It was a tough loss after so much positive energy throughout the match, but Cameron knows now that they can compete with anyone on any given night.

“A lot of teams will look at us with a different set of eyes and they will be more focused when they play us,” Nohe said. “That is a good thing. We are kind of the underdog coming from behind the shadows, but I think this is a statement for everyone else. You can’t count us out and that is a good thing.”

Friday 19-3A Volleyball Results

Cameron Yoe 3, McGregor 0; Rockdale 3, Franklin 1; Troy 3, Lexington 2; Academy 3, Rogers 2.

Tuesday 19-3A Volleyball Results

Rockdale 3, Cameron Yoe 2; Franklin 3, Rogers 2; Academy 3, Lexington 0; Troy over McGregor

Top 25 Rankings

1. Denver City, 2. Boyd, 3. Goliad, 4. Callisburg, 5. Johnson City 6. Buna, 7. Bushland, 8. Hardin, 9. Friona, 10. Prairiland, 11. Poth, 12. West Rusk, 13. New Boston. 14. Sonora, 15. Brock, 16. Commerce, 17. Schulenburg, 18. Industrial, 19. Scurry-Rosser, 20. Gateway Prep, 21. Nocona, 22. Chapel Hill, 23. Diboll, 24. Tolar, T25. Columbus, T25. Rockdale.

Junior High Update

The junior high teams recently opened up district play on Monday, September 10. 7B lost in two sets, 5-25 and 17-25. 8B won in two sets, 25-15 and 26-24. 7A won in an exciting three sets, 27-25, 24-26, and 15-12. 8A also won in an exciting three sets, 24-26, 25-9, and 15-9.

The Junior High Lady Yoe will play McGregor at home, September 17th, starting at 5:00 P.M.