The Tem-Cats bounced back from a disaster of an opening set to even the match before Rudder overcame its own mistakes and rallied late to stave off a fifth set and get the nondistrict victory.
“[Temple] just had one of those sets where you couldn’t do anything right, and we told our team that the rest of them aren’t going to go like that, and boy did we call that,” Lady Rangers coach Jacky Pence said. “They just did a lot of stuff that you don’t expect to happen. They were good at that, and we were not good at defending that. We were having a hard time scoring, and we made a lot more hitting errors than we’ve been making.”
Despite clicking late and scoring six of the last seven points to win the third set and grab the advantage entering the fourth, the Lady Rangers (12-8) struggled to get a run going in the next set as Temple fought to keep the match alive.
The Tem-Cats (6-10) got back-to-back kills from Lyric Biggiers to spark a brief 3-0 run that eeked their advantage to 12-8. Kills by Asani McGee and Taylor Baker and an ace by Gracie Menchaca helped Rudder get back within one down 13-12, but a service error and attack error sparked a 4-0 run that kept Temple ahead.
Another Rudder hitting error stretched the Tem-Cats’ lead to 18-13 before the tide turned the Lady Rangers’ way. A kill by Madison Johnson brought Bre Brown to the service line, giving Rudder a needed spark. Kaylee Herd followed with a block, then Johnson had another kill and Brown scorched an ace to get Rudder within one and force a Temple timeout.
“Bre Brown came in and did a nice job servicing for us when we were down,” Pence said. “That’s a pretty big hole when a team is trying to push it to five, so she did a really nice job coming in and serving aggressively. That was a turning point.”
The Tem-Cats broke out of the timeout with a kill by Sophia Brea and got another Lady Rangers’ hitting error for a 20-17 lead. But a pair of missed Temple attacks sandwiched an ace by Jordan Little, allowing Rudder to tie it for the first time since 8-8.
A kill by Johnson, who finished with seven, put the Lady Rangers in front 21-20 and forced another Tem-Cats timeout.
Temple again answered with a kill, this one by Bella Brea, and a Rudder hitting error gave the Tem-Cats the lead. A double-touch call against Temple tied it again, and a kill by Baker put Rudder in front for good.
Herd had a close kill on the back line called in by the line judge for a 24-22 lead, prompting an explosive reaction from the entire Temple team. Makenna Muth then ended the match with an ace.
McGee led the Lady Rangers with nine kills, while Herd had seven kills, five aces and 27 assists. Baker had five kills and 11 digs. Muth had four aces and 12 digs. Menchaca had five aces and 20 digs, and Little had three aces.
Heard scored four of her five aces early in the first set as Rudder surged to an 8-2 lead and didn’t look back. Temple looked lost at times as the Lady Rangers dropped kill after kill, scoring 13 of the last 15 points to open the match with a 25-7 win.
The Tem-Cats quickly turned it around, jumping to a 3-0 lead in the second set and later rallying from a 23-21 deficit — with the help of a pair of double-touch calls on Rudder — to even the match with a 25-23 victory.
A streak of four hitting errors by Temple helped the Lady Rangers rally early in the third set before pulling away late.
Rudder will try to find its rhythm again when it competes in the Tyler tournament starting Thursday.
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