Early mistakes doom Lady Apaches in opening loss

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GONZALES — Everything finally clicked in the end, but it was too late for the Lady Apaches who opened their season with a four-set loss, (25-14, 25-16, 23-25, 25-18), to the Universal City Randolph Ro-Hawks.

“We didn’t gel, we didn’t talk, we didn’t do anything,” Gonzales head coach Bernice Voigt said of her young squad in the first two sets. “We struggled. Game 3, they figured out they can play together, Game 4 was close. It’s a better start than what we’ve had in the past, at least playing together wise.”

The Lady Apaches are a young squad with just two juniors on the court along with multiple freshmen and sophomores. Their lone senior, Cameron Kluting, is out with an apparent leg injury. Trying to find a rhythm was a problem as the team were down as much as 12 points in the first set and even down 22-8 in the second set, before turning it around.

“We didn’t give up. We came close,” Voigt pointed out, “but after giving them 10 or 12 points, it’s too hard.”

After a few changes in the lineup, the Lady Apaches were able to keep the third set close. Gonzales took advantage of self-inflicted mistakes by the Ro-Hawks, especially during a 6-0 run to take a 11-5 early lead that involved five mistakes and just one kill, a strike by Kiley Allen, during said run.

“They all had their moments to shine,” Voigt said of her young athletes. “Everybody had it at different points that they were a leader.”

The Lady Apaches did see some adversity late, after an ace from Rachel Staggs gave the team the 23-21 lead. Needing just two points, Gonzales gave up two to tie the set before closing out UC Randolph with two straight points including a kill from Hayley Sample.

“We made a couple of tweaks and it seemed to work a little better,” Voigt explained. “We’re with an injury right now, that’s hurting us.”

Up 12-11 in the fourth set, the mistakes piled up for the Lady Apaches as UC Randolph went on a 6-0 run to take the lead. Late, down 18-13, the Lady Apaches fought back to come within one with a kill from Maura Garcia and an ace from Chelsie Hastings. The Ro-Hawks closed out the match with a 7-1 run, to win the game in four sets.

Maura Garcia ended the day with six kills and one ace, Hayley Sample had five kills. Chelsie Hastings had a team-leading three aces to go with her two kills and one block. Others include Rachel Staggs with three kills and two aces, Kiley Allen with three kills, Hailey Riojas with two kills and Sam Barnick with one ace.

The Lady Apaches will take on Gonzales alumni at the gym at 6 p.m.

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