Sachse senior Samantha Johnson tracks down a ball and makes a pass during Thursday’s Class 6A Division I bi-district playoff match at Rowlett High School. Photo by Oladipo Awowale / C&S Media
By David Wolman
ROWLETT – There was plenty of familiarity between Sachse and Rockwall.
Thursday night’s Class 6A bi-district matchup marked the ninth match played between the two teams over the last five years and the fourth consecutive season that the Lady Mustangs and Yellowjackets have met in the playoffs. But for as many times as Sachse has played Rockwall, Lady Mustangs head coach Rikki Jones said that replicating the Yellowjackets’ fast pace isn’t easy to duplicate in practice.
Although Sachse began to adjust to Rockwall’s pace late in the first set, the Yellowjackets kept firing away, and those hard hits proved too much for the Lady Mustangs to overcome in a season-ending 3-0 loss (25-11, 25-14, 25-14) at Rowlett High School. Rockwall hit with high efficiency, finishing with a .468 hitting percentage and committing just six hitting errors on 94 attempts.
Rockwall’s offensive balance was on full display, with five players recording at least five kills, led by 12 from junior Zailey High and 10 from junior Ryan Anderson.
“They were pretty good offensively,” Jones said of Rockwall. “They have a really fast set, so it was really hard for us to establish a solid block against them, which puts our defense in a bind.”
Sachse scored the first point of the match. Senior Shelby Siratt saw her serve go off the arms of a Rockwall defender in serve receive for an ace.
However, it was the only time on the night that Sachse held a lead.
Senior outside hitter Raniya Temple-Robinson attempted to single-handedly keep the Lady Mustangs within striking distance. She had four kills over the first 12 points of the match, the last of which rallied Sachse to within 8-4. She finished with a team-high eight kills in her final match wearing a Sachse uniform.
“I’m so proud of her,” Jones said. “This is the first year that she’s had to be the go-to player. It’s a lot of pressure. She’s handled herself beautifully. Those seniors have done a good job of keeping us even-keeled and not as nervous with all of the new players that we have.”
Sachse, though, struggled to string together extended runs, much less get touches on the ball. The strong right arm of High made it particularly tough for Sachse. High led a 17-6 Yellowjackets run to end the first set, including two kills over a span of three points to jump-start that surge.
It was more of the same in set two.
Sachse got as close as 2-1 after a Temple-Robinson kill and later reduced what had been an 11-4 deficit to 15-10 after back-to-back kills by Temple-Robinson and a hitting error by Rockwall.
But just when Sachse attempted to mount a comeback, another player on Rockwall’s front row put together a dominant stretch of play. Senior Kate Lindsay had kills on two of the next three points, leading the Yellowjackets on a 10-4 run to end the second set as Rockwall gained a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five match.
Sachse dug out several balls that were struck hard by Rockwall in the third set, but a 6-0 lead by the Yellowjackets proved too much to overcome as the Lady Mustangs (19-18) saw their season come to an end in the first round of the playoffs for the second year in a row.
Despite the quick playoff exit, Sachse experienced a lot of growth over the course of the season as the Lady Mustangs worked hard to retool a roster that lost six seniors from last season’s team to graduation. After starting 3-8, Sachse won 16 of its last 26 matches to finish with a 19-18 overall record and 12-4 district record – good for second place in District 9-6A.
“They did a really good job,” Jones said. “They definitely improved from where we started to where we are now. We have a brand-new offense besides Raniya and some people who came off the bench. The good thing is that they have the potential to be even better if we work hard in the offseason.”
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