High school volleyball: Palestine opens season with sweep of Rice
Aug. 10—RICE — The Palestine Ladycats opened their season Tuesday night with a sweep of the Rice Lady Dawgs — 25-9, 25-13, 25-8.
The Ladycats showed a dominant serving effort, with aces from Vivian Eckerman, Rylie Schwab, Jan'aa Johnson and Ju'Mija Clewis.
Offensively, the Ladycats were led by Jan'aa Johnson with 10 kills, Jaylah Spurlock with seven kills and Chimsi Okonkwo with five kills.
Defensively, Jan'aa Johnson lead the team with two solo blocks, while Chimsi Okonkwo and Kelsey Grayson each had one solo block each. Libero Rylie Schwab led the team in passing both defensively and on serve receive for the night.
The Ladycats will be back in action on Thursday at home in pool play of their hosted volleyball tournament, which will also include area teams Frankston, Cayuga, Neches and Oakwood.
Palestine is placed in pool one with Brownsboro, Frankston and Malakoff. They'll open pool play at 2 p.m. in the main gym against Malakoff. They'll play Brownsboro at 4 p.m. and conclude pool play with a 6 p.m. match against the Frankston Maidens.
Frankston will start their day at 1 p.m. against Brownsboro before playing Malakoff at 3 p.m. and Palestine at 6 p.m.
Cayuga will also get their day going in the auxiliary gym at 1 p.m. against the Athens Lady Hornets. They return to the court at 3 p.m. against Kerens and conclude their day at 6 p.m. against Mildred.
Neches starts pool play Friday inside the main gym against Buffalo at 1 p.m. They'll return at 3 p.m. against Wills Point and conclude their Friday with Cayuga's junior varsity squad at 6 p.m.
Oakwood is placed in pool four who play in the auxiliary gym Friday. They'll play Palestine JV at 2 p.m., Eustace at 3 p.m. and Callisburg at 5 p.m.
