By Spencer Spilman
The Hays Lady Rebels volleyball team fell behind early to the Cibolo Steele Lady Knights, but battled back to win the match in three straight sets, 25-23, 25-18 and 25-22.
The Lady Rebels hurt themselves throughout the match with unforced service errors. They fell behind 15-10 thanks to Steele’s Jada Gardner, along with three service errors.
Hailee Morton stepped up big for the Lady Rebels and was a huge factor in the first set comeback. Her teammate Mackenzie Coates assisted on a majority of her 10 kills in the first set.
The turning point of the set came when Kacie Hall made a huge block at the net to help tie the set at 22 points apiece.
Hays Coach Stephanie Coates gave credit to her bench players. “Bailey Graham, Ryann Torres and Kayla Tello all came off the bench and really made a difference in that set,” Coates said.
The block gave the Lady Rebels the momentum and they never looked back on their way to the 25-23 win.
Morton said the team was prepared for the comeback because they do it every day in practice.
“In practice we play a game where we start by trailing 13-18, and they had us down 13-18 so that definitely helped us during that set,” said Morton.
The momentum stayed with Hays in the second set as they quickly jumped out to an 11-6 lead behind the kills of Morton, Hall and Kaitlyn Krafka.
The Lady Knights fought back with six straight points to tie the set at 14, and they eventually took the lead 15-14.
Hays came roaring back with its outside hitters dominating the finish of the set. The Lady Rebels closed the game on an 11-3 run to win handily 25-18.
The third set was heavily contested by the Lady Knights and they weren’t going back to Cibolo without a fight.
Both teams traded points and were deadlocked at 15 points until the Lady Rebels created some distance with three kills in a row.
Steele answered with a run of its own that included two aces in a row from Harlan Maurial.
Hays called a timeout with the score at 23-22, and whatever Coach Coates said in the huddle, seemed to work. The Lady Rebels went straight to their workhorse Morton, and Hays quickly finished off the match 25-22.
The Lady Rebels will host former district opponent Bowie on Friday before opening up district play against cross-town rival Lehman next week.
