Lady Highlanders begin quest to defend title with victory against College Station

THE WOODLANDS, Texas- The defending state and national champion Lady Highlanders Volleyball Team didn’t show any rust in taking down The College Station Cougars Tuesday night at The Woodlands gym in three sets. The scores for the match were 25-14, 25-15, and 25-10.

“It was a good game for us,” said senior USC commit Rachel Reed. “We have so many players that can run so many sets, we just have to figure out how to make it all work and we will be a great team again this year.”

The match started quickly with a 4-0 run for the Lady Highlanders to open their title defense, which saw the team go an astounding 45-0. Despite having five new faces on a team that will go ten players deep, this team believes they will be a ‘new team, same dream.’

After a kill by Reed, the Lady Highlanders took a commanding 16-6 lead in set one. The set went back and forth after Reed’s kill, but a dig by Louisiana Lafayette commit Julia Pasch and an error by College Station handed the first set to The Lady Highlanders 25-14.

“It was a good game for us,” said Pasch. “We got our feet wet, figured out what to do and how our sets work. We’ll be even better for the next one. When we figure out who’s running what, we will be unstoppable.”

The second set started same as the first, a block by Rachel Reed and a 3-0 start to get the Lady Highlanders off to the races. Another Rachel Reed kill made it 6-2 Lady Highlanders, and they seemed to be in rhythm. University of Pennsylvania commit Courtney Quinn got in on the action and delivered a strong kill from the left side of the court to make the score 10-3 Lady Highlanders, and things were looking good. However, the College Station Cougars garnered some footing in the middle of the set, going on a 8-3 run, making the second set close at 13-11. The run seemed to invigorate the Lady Highlanders, and they quickly regained composure. After a Courtney Quinn kill to the far side of the court, the Lady Highlanders were back in front 20-14, eventually winning the set 25-15.

“As we were going, we started to figure things out,” said Reed. “Being a senior this year, everyone looks up to me, which is unusual for me. I don’t mind though, I like to help the team out.”

The third set was reminiscent of the first two, with the Lady Highlanders starting on a 6-0 run. A block by Julia Pasch and Colby Quinn made the score 8-2 Highlanders and the set was favoring the Highlanders early. A kill on a mishit by College Station made the score 13-3 and the Lady Highlanders never looked back. Belmont University commit Hannah Hickman teamed up with Courtney Quinn for a double team block to make the score 15-3. From that point on the teams traded points until an error by College Station ended the third set 25-10 in favor of the Lady Highlanders.

The Lady Highlanders will be playing their next game in tournament play on Thursday, August14th in Pearland. The team will feature 87 teams from across the state of Texas, and will also have district opponent College Park High School in the bracket.

“It’s the biggest tournament in Texas,” said Pasch. “We’re excited to go down there and see how we do.”

Asked what she would do different from last year’s team, coach Leslie Madison was very succinct in her answer.

“Nothing.”