But with their backs against the wall in a decisive fifth game, Rogers wouldn’t pull through this time.
Wallis Brazos defeated fifth-ranked Rogers 21-25, 25-20, 25-19, 23-25, 15-11 on Tuesday night in a Class 2A Region IV quarterfinal volleyball match to end the Lady Eagles’ season.
Rogers, which shared the District 25-2A championship with Salado and was its league’s No. 1 seed, finished the season with a 38-3 record.
Brazos (31-9) advanced to play Freer or Vanderbilt Industrial in a regional semifinal Friday in San Antonio.
“It’s a great accomplishment winning 38 matches,” Rogers coach Pam Lomas said. “That’s hard to do in any season. The kids played really, really well. We just weren’t able to pull it through today.”
The Cougarettes had the momentum heading into the fourth game, leading 2-1 thanks to strong kills by Jennifer Brandt and the serving of Taylor Boggs.
The Lady Eagles, though, got off to the start they needed, pushing what had been a slim early lead to five points after back-to-back kills by Nancy Macha and Cayleigh Drake. Needing a win to survive, Rogers continued to control the fourth game and led by four after a kill by Macha, who finished with 14.
The Cougarettes whittled away at the lead, eventually tying the game five times before Rogers took a 23-22 lead on a Brazos attack error. Brazos tied the game at 23 and then gave Rogers the lead when a serve went long. Needing just one point to stay alive, Macha went down for a dig that wound up going over the net and dropping to give the Lady Eagles the game at 25-23.
Rogers got off to a strong start in the decisive fifth game, getting a block by Schaffner and Brittany Luna and Schaffner kill for a 2-0 lead. Schaffner finished with a team-high 24 kills.
The Lady Eagles maintained a slim advantage until the Cougarettes battled back to eventually tie the game on a net violation. Brazos pushed its lead to three before Rogers tied it at 10 on a kill by Macha, a Cougarette attack error and kill by Drake. But Rogers never led again, and a pair of aces by Boggs, whose powerful serve was often hard to receive, sealed the Cougarettes’ upset.
“We were hoping we’d have a little momentum - it started out pretty well,” Lomas said. “We just couldn’t contain from there.”
Rogers got off to exactly the start it wanted, taking the first game thanks to eight kills by Nicholyn Carter-Maddux. The Lady Eagles nearly led throughout and got timely kills from outside hitters Carter-Maddux and Macha, along with several Brazos errors, to maintain control.
The Cougarettes got their outside hitters - especially Brandt - going in the second and third games, blazing powerful kills down the sideline. Brazos led by as many as 10 in the second and eight in the third, helping the Cougarettes take a 2-1 lead.
As her team tried to fight back in the second and third game, Lomas’ message was simple.
“‘Just keep fighting, keep working through it,’” Lomas said of her message to her team. “They have some really good hitters. It’s tough to keep it off the ground sometimes.”
The loss marked the end of the career of four Rogers seniors - Schaffner, Macha, Luna and Carter-Maddux.
rschneider@temple-telegram.com
