Mike Ridaught
While most high school volleyball teams are getting ready for postseason play, The Rock School knew its season was concluding.
The Lions, who won the National Association for Christian Athletics national championship last year, were supposed to play in the Texas Christian Athletic League tournament next month, but the national event was canceled.
So Thursday night’s home finale was the Lions’ final game of the 2023 season.
The Rock made it a memorable one with a 25-15, 23-25, 25-18, 25-18 victory against Oak Hall School, sweeping the two-game series.
“Very competitive match,” said The Rock coach Ruben Perez, who just concluded his second year with the Lions. “They (Oak Hall) don’t quit. I’ll definitely give them that. Coach Perry is a very passionate coach, very dynamic, so I love the competition.”
Junior Natasha Kidd led all players with 21 kills and she set the tone early with an ace to start the game.
“Powerful hitter,” Perez said. “When she hits that ball you definitely hear it and everybody goes crazy.”
Kidd had a pair of blocks in the first set as The Rock (15-6) turned an 8-7 deficit into an 11-7 lead which they never relinquished to go up 1-0.
“The Rock has some phenomenal athletes and those kids were just running highlight reel attacks tonight which I certainly love and appreciate,” said Oak Hall coach Perry McDonald.
Senior Pene Moser, who led the Eagles (20-4) with 18 kills, had three quick kills to help give Oak Hall an early 5-3 lead in the second set.
However, The Rock rallied and led 15-10 before a pair of aces by OHS junior Emma Raulerson tied the set at 15-all.
Oak Hall twice took the lead late at 20-19 and 21-20 on kills by junior Cassidy McDonald (11 kills, 23 assists, 2 blocks).
Later in the set, the Lions had a chance to tie it at 23-all on a kill by junior Mary Massias but Coach McDonald called a lift on the play.
The officials didn’t overturn it but decided to do a replay, and Moser delivered a kill for a 24-22 lead the Eagles didn’t surrender.
“I’m extremely pleased that we didn’t roll over,” McDonald said. “When you’ve got kids coming through and just pounding the daylights out of the ball it’s very easy to let one point turn into five, like that, and I think that we did a pretty solid job of getting past the ‘oh my’ highlight reel kills and then focusing on the next point so that we were able to make it competitive the entire way through.”
With the match tied at 1-1, The Rock broke a 16-all tie in the third set with a 5-0 run, highlighted by a couple of kills by Kidd.
Junior Annabell Zachritz finished with nine kills, including a pair of kills in the fourth set to give the Lions a 15-13 lead.
“They didn’t have an answer for my middle, Annabell Zachritz,” Perez said.
Following an Oak Hall timeout, the Eagles tied the game at 15-all on a kill by freshman Kendylle Bishop.
Massias (16 kills) dominated the fifth set for the Lions with five kills and a block.
The Rock went on a 7-0 run to help put the game away to win their final set of the season. Massias finished off the match with an ace.
“To lead them this year has been an honor and privilege,” said Ruben, who joined his team on “The Prep Zone” sports show at Sonic Drive-In this past Wednesday. “I cannot say anything else about my season without giving props to (senior) Gabriella Gentry for being an amazing player for us, and being willing and never complaining about anything.”
Perez said he was very proud of his team overall.
“I think we showed growth from where we started to where we finished today,” he said. “The girls definitely played hard.”
Oak Hall, which lost at home to The Rock, 2-0, at a tournament on Sept. 30, will now get ready for its second season.
“We don’t have anyone in our region that’s got athletes like that and when you come through and you compete at this level it definitely makes you better,” McDonald said.
With the 2A-District 4 tournament coming up at St. Francis Catholic Academy next week, McDonald felt much better about last night’s performance than the first meeting, which is a good sign heading into postseason play.
“We walked out of that gym (Sept. 30) and I had to ask the kids, ‘did we get better,” that’s always the benchmark, and half of them, myself included, had to look and say ‘not sure,” he said. “Tonight, when we walked out of the gym I think it was a consensus, that absolutely made us better and helped toughen us up for playoff level ball. It was worth it. Credit to The Rock for playing exceptionally good.”
GHS 3, Trinity Catholic (Ocala) 2 – The visiting Hurricanes spoiled the Celtics’ Homecoming with a five-set win in the regular season finale.
The Celtics, Class 3A state semifinalists last year, battled back from a 1-0 deficit and took a 2-1 lead, but the Hurricanes rallied to win 25-23, 20-25, 26-28, 25-20, 15-12.
The Hurricanes (17-7) will now get ready for next week’s 6A-District 4 tournament as the top seed.
