RT-C Goes Down Swinging

By the narrowest of margins, the Round Top-Carmine volleyball team missed out on a state tournament berth.

In a thrill-a-minute 1A regional final Saturday in Brenham Neches and RT-C traded comebacks but the Lady Tigers made their final rally count beating the Cubettes 2519, 20-25, 25-23, 8-25, 16-14.

“Region 4 is one of the toughest regions if not the toughest region in 1A volleyball. If that’s not a state championship game right there I don’t know what is,” said RT-C head coach Caitie Weishuhn.

RT-C ends its season with a 36-8 record while Neches (32-9) advances to the state tournament where they will face defending champ Blum (38-7) Wednesday in the state semis.

This match got extra dramatic early when RT-C star senior Mallory Krause collided with a teammate and suffered a cut above her right eye in the first set with Neches up 13-10 at the time.

Krause left the court and was patched up as Neches won the first set.

She returned to play the rest of the match with an increasingly large amount of tape above that eye. RT-C even had to call a timeout in the fifth set when the wound re-opened.

Even so, Krause had a huge match with 15 kills, 10 digs, 16 assists and two aces for her ninth triple-double of the season.

“Hats off to her for fighting through that, incredible fight,” Weishuhn said.

With the two teams tied at one set a piece and the score tied 23-23 in the third, an initial out call on a ball hit by Neches seemed to give RT-C a 24-23 lead, but that was overruled by the head ref, who called a violation on the Cubettes, in what amounted to a two-point swing. Neches won the set one play later.

That was part of a entire match that was heavily controlled by the refs. After falling behind two sets to one to Neches, RT-C demolished them in the fourth set 25-8 and kept that momentum going to take leads of 10-6 and 11-7 in the fifth set.

“They fought back and that’s what the Cubettes are all about,” Weishuhn said.

Junior Jill Eilers had a huge match Saturday, with 9 kills, 14 digs and 16 assists. Her twin sister Tess had five kills and 16 digs.

“Being able to fight back shows a lot of grit, it shows the kind of person you are,” said RT-C senior Kaysie Ward.

But RT-C couldn’t hold that lead in the fifth as Neches roared back, led by Kacie Trimble, who scored three of the final four points of the match.

RT-C still led 13-12 and later the score was tied 14-14 before two final Trimble kills.

“We have to take care of business when we are up by four in the fifth, but sometimes things just don’t go your way,” Weishuhn said. “Kudos to Neches.”

Saturday’s loss ends the high school volleyball career of five Cubettes seniors, Maggie Salinas, Krause, Kaysie Ward, Kimberly Rohde and Kennedy Flinn.

Salinas had 29 digs and Rohde had 11.

“I’m really, really sad but I’m glad I was able to do this with my best friends,” Ward said.

“This group has been together for a long time, played together for a long time,” Weishuhn said. “They are re-ally good volleyball players and even better people.”

The Cubettes got to Saturday’s regional final by dismantling D’Hanis 25-19, 2520, 25-17 Friday.

Jill Eilers had her second triple double of the season with 11 kills, 12 digs and 15 assists.

Mallory Krause had 12 kills, 25 digs and 19 assists in that match. Tess Eilers had five kills and 12 digs.

Maggie Salinas had 17 digs. Kennedy Flinn had three blocks. Kaysie Ward had nine kills and four blocks. Jessica Rohde had four kills.