JARRELL - One of the biggest concerns Bree Holz-Gonzales had about the Salado Lady Eagles’ District 25-2A volleyball opener Tuesday night at Jarrell was that her team would be rusty after having not played in a week.

Those worries were put to rest in a hurry.

The Class 2A No. 6-ranked Lady Eagles came out with a fury and didn’t let up much as they rolled by the Lady Cougars 25-18, 25-9, 25-18.

Salado improved its season record to 21-3, while Jarrell slipped to 11-9.

“We hadn’t played in a week and I like to play a lot,” Holz-Gonzales said. “But we came out swinging.”

Jarrell is off to its best start in years but struggled to keep pace with Salado’s heavy hitters and formidable front line.

“We knew they were a good team,” Lady Cougars coach Liz Boyd said. “I just hoped we’d play a little better than we did. The girls never quit and we battled back some.”

The most contested game of the match was the opener.

Salado reeled off five consecutive points, led by three kills from Danielle Hazzard, to jump out to a 9-3 lead. The Lady Eagles essentially maintained that advantage the rest of the game, never allowing the Lady Cougars to string together back-to-back points until late.

The second game got away from the Lady Cougars like a runaway train as the Lady Eagles scored the first 14 points on the service of libero Lindsey Coffey. Hadley Joiner put down five spikes during that stretch, and Jenna Sebek added three more.

Coffey’s 15th serve sailed long to end the streak, but the Lady Eagles scored seven of the next eight points for a commanding 21-2 advantage. Sebek and Hazzard had a pair of kills to keep the momentum going.

Jarrell’s Sarah Moerbe and Amanda Braun served a combined three aces before the game was done.

Another big early lead allowed the Lady Eagles to cruise in the third game. Salado rang up a 9-1 advantage - with kills from Sebek and Hazzard along with a block from Brennan Boydstun - to set the Lady Eagles in motion.

The Lady Cougars crept back within three at 10-7 behind a pair of Kaitlyn Wolbrueck winners and a Braun ace.

But the Lady Eagles sped away again by scoring nine of the next 10 points on the services of Boydstun and Hazzard. The teams traded points the rest of the way before Hazzard ripped a Kaitlyn Ruth set down the middle for the final point to finish off the Lady Cougars in just under an hour.

Hazzard led the way with 11 kills, while Sebek and Joiner had seven apiece. Ruth had 31 assists. Jarrell was paced by Wolbrueck with five kills and Braun with four.

“I couldn’t pinpoint any one thing,” said Boyd, whose team will continue district play at Lexington in a match that has been moved to 5 p.m. Thursday to prepare for Hurricane Ike evacuation efforts. “We’ve just got to get a pass before you can attack.”

As thorough as the Lady Eagles were, missteps were made that can still be corrected.

“We definitely have room to improve,” said Holz-Gonzales, whose team will host Marble Falls in a non-district match Friday. “We still have some timing issues with our setters and hitters. We can always get better on defense.”

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