PREP VOLLEYBALL: Rudolph leads Catholic to sweep of Prattville Christian
Catholic’s Zaria Rudolph records one of her 19 kills in Catholic’s sweep of PCA on Tuesday. (Tim Gayle)
BY TIM GAYLE
Both teams are going through a rebuilding year, so Catholic and Prattville Christian had a lot to learn from each other in Tuesday’s volleyball match at Catholic.
The Knights had a not-so-secret weapon, however, in junior outside hitter Zaria Rudolph, whose 19 kills, seven blocks and .695 hitting percentage was a difference maker in helping Catholic sweep the Panthers 25-22, 25-16 and 25-11.
“We always know if things aren’t running smooth, we can find the ball and get it to her and she’s going to execute,” Catholic coach Jenn Denham observed.
The Knights had communication and chemistry issues that are expected with a team that returns just Rudolph and libero Ava Bierly as the only returning varsity players from a year ago. And while Catholic has a learning curve this season that will likely keep the Knights from winning a Class AA Private state championship, they certainly have the talent to make things interesting.
“I was just proud of them, that we kind of put a plan together(where) we knew who their hitters were going to be,” Denham said. “We always say take care of what’s on our side of the court, but we also talk about what we’re going to be seeing as well and I thought our girls did a really good job because they’ve got some big girls over there and they hit the ball really, really well.
“I wanted our girls to know when you’re swinging, you’re going to have a big block across the net from you and I thought our girls did a really good job of not being intimidated by that block and adjusting.”
Prattville Christian has a similar level of inexperience that was compounded by the absence of two key players, including injured outside hitter Anniston Robison.
“It’s always good to play tough competition and see what we’re made of and capable of, what our offense and our serve-receive can do,” PCA coach Kaylon Cantrell said. “We’re young with two new setters on the court, so it’s about giving them opportunities to touch balls and work together to get better. There were parts of tonight where we got better and parts of tonight where we weren’t our best.”
The Panthers battled the Knights evenly in the first set and a late rally by Catholic took charge of the second set, but PCA struggled to find any rhythm in the third set.
“The first two sets, we played well with them,” Cantrell said. “I felt like we hung with them for the first half of the set really well. We were good for 15-18 points, then we just struggled to finish. But Catholic is outstanding. They’ve got girls who can hammer the ball and a solid defense so they’re a great team. I just don’t love how we ended. We didn’t finish well tonight.”
For the Knights, Lyla Sanford had eight kills, Kayla Blackwell had six kills, Bierly had 11 digs and Camilla Abbott had four aces, five kills and three blocks.
For the Panthers, Aubrey Cox had six assists, an ace and three digs, Jordyn Harris had 11 assists and two digs, Maren Diefenderfer had six kills and four digs, Olivia Rossi had seven kills, a block and four digs, Christiana Franklin had three kills, Elle Maddox had four kills and three digs, Haven Harrell had an ace and five digs and Copeland Miller and Korbyn Stubblefield each had one kill.
Both teams return to action on Thursday. PCA (1-5) returns home to play host to Auburn High at 1:30 p.m., while Catholic (5-2) remains home to face Houston Academy in the area opener.
“It’s too soon,” Denham said. “We usually don’t start area play until mid-September. When we got split up (from public schools) and put in this new area, it’s just different. I think they had already filled their area (playing dates) before really knowing what the area was.”