By Logan McCullough

It only took three sets for the Hays Lady Rebels volleyball team to secure a 25-19, 25-19, 25-17, victory Friday over the Vista Ridge Rangers in Bales Gym.

Although the Lady Rebels never relinquished the lead, the matchup was consistently competitive. 

“We have great respect for Vista Ridge,” said Hays head coach Stephanie Coates. “If you go back and look at their scores throughout district, they’re win loss record is very, very deceiving. They are a much better team than what their record shows, and our girls knew that coming in.”

The storyline in each of the three sets was shockingly similar. Hays jumped out to an early lead, forcing Vista Ridge head coach Holly Lamb to call a timeout. After every timeout, Vista Ridge seemed to find a source of energy, gain momentum and chipped away at Hays’ lead. 

When asked about how her timeouts affected the game, Vista Ridge head coach Holly Lamb said she thought her team came out flat and was repeatedly telling them to match Hays’ energy and aggressiveness. 

“They’re a very aggressive team,” Lamb said. “They’re very offensive and our ball control just broke down tonight. They were serving us pretty aggressive and our ball control broke down and we couldn’t get our offense flowing like we usually do.”

The Lady Rangers battled back from 13-6 a deficit in set one to cut Hays’ lead to 15-14. 

In set two, Vista Ridge rallied from a 12-7 deficit to pull within a point at 20-19. The Rangers followed a similar theme in the third set, when they recovered from several deficits. 

In spite of these huge momentum swings, the Rebels maintained their composure and relied on both aggressive offense and relentless defense to close out each set.

Hays closes out its regular season schedule Tuesday in Bales Gym against the state ranked Westlake Chaparrals.