SA Times - As they were announced before the start of Tuesday night’s home volleyball game against Abilene High, the members of the Central High School volleyball team chunked rubber chickens into the near-capacity crowd. Then, as promised by the gesture, the Lady Cats proceeded to pluck the Lady Eagles. In a dominating outing against an AHS team that came into the match in a tie for first place in District 3-5A and was at one time state ranked, No. 10 Central swept the Lady Eagles 25-18, 25-17, 25-17.

The last time the Lady Cats had taken the court prior to Tuesday, they had lost in five games to Midland High. There was every indication Tuesday that the Lady Cats (25-5, 2-1) had put that loss behind them. “We got together as a group and said that we weren’t going to let that loss be the defining moment of our season,” Central head coach Connie Bozarth said. “The loss only pushed us to want to work harder,” said Central’s Lyric Ross, who led the Lady Cats offensive charge with 13 kills. “In practice we worked hard, and we came in confident with our heads on and ready to play good ball, and it showed.” It really showed.

In Game 1 Central never trailed after taking a 4-3 lead. In Games 2 and 3 Central never trailed at all. “I thought this was one or our better outings,” Bozarth said. “Our serve receive was great. I thought we stayed aggressive. When they made little runs everybody stayed together and worked as a team. “That’s the aftermath of the Midland High game, that we didn’t let that loss fracture us. I think it’s brought us together even more.” Stephanie Starnes had 11 kills for Central. Regan Darby had 31 assists. Stacy Teston led the team in digs with 15 and Ashley Darby added 10. Kaitlyn Standard had two blocks.

“Central played great,” said AHS head coach DiDi Pierce said, whose team dropped to 20-6 overall and 2-1 in district. “We had a hard time passing. That kinda took us out of our offense. When we could pass the ball we could run things that were quick, and that was working. The big thing was that we didn’t receive their serves well.” Central’s Jennifer Horn was a big part of that, serving six straight points in Game 1 to turn a 3-1 AHS lead into a 7-3 Central advantage. “I’ve been waiting to be on this team forever,” said Horn, a senior who is in her first year on varsity. “I love playing with these girls.”“Serving is truly an offensive weapon for us,” Bozarth said. “We’re not scared to serve tough.” The big Central crowd on hand cheered every serve, every point. There were so many folks packed into the gym that the cooling system was overmatched, making for a toasty night at the old gym. “It couldn’t handle it,” Bozarth said. “We want even more. We don’t want there to be any standing room. We want the fire marshall to come and send all the visiting fans home.”