By Rob Tate
SportCast Media
For the third straight week, the Oak Ridge volleyball team broke even.
A sweep win and a sweep loss in District 13-6A.
The good news there is it hasn’t affected the War Eagles’ spot in the district standings. The playoffs are still very much on the table.
Oak Ridge (29-9, 6-4) enters this week in fourth place, a match up on Willis and a leg up on every team below it in the standings.
The War Eagles play two of those teams below them this week. They make the trip to New Caney Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. before returning home to face Conroe at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.
Last week, Oak Ridge swept Cleveland 25-9, 25-7, 25-9 on Tuesday before getting swept by College Park 25-20, 25-18, 25-22 in a tightly-contested match. The Cavaliers take the season sweep after taking six straight sets dating back to the first match in September where Oak Ridge led 2-0 before College Park rallied for the win.
Back on Sept. 6, Oak Ridge swept New Caney in the first match between the two. The Eagles totaled 25 points in all three sets combined as the War Eagles put on a dominant performance.
That night, Gaby Santiago totaled seven kills, nine aces and nine digs to lead in all three departments. Oak Ridge put over a dizzying 22 aces as a team as Samantha Daley added five and Micah Rusher had three. Bradi Rhodes led in assists with 18.
Oak Ridge has won 12 consecutive matches against New Caney dating back to 2007.
On Sept. 10, Oak Ridge took a four-set win at Conroe.
Santiago had a massive match with 17 kills that night. The junior also had 14 digs and four aces. Junior Leila Ceaser also had a big night against the Tigers with a double-double of 11 kills and 12 digs. Rusher had four blocks while Rhodes had 25 assists and three aces. Daley added 12 assists.
Oak Ridge is looking to string together consecutive wins for the first time since Sept. 20 and 24 against Caney Creek and Willis, respectively.
After this week, the War Eagles have just four more district matches the rest of the season.
DISTRICT 13-6A STANDINGS
Grand Oaks 10-0
The Woodlands 8-2
College Park 8-2
Oak Ridge 6-4
Willis 5-5
Caney Creek 3-6
Conroe 3-7
New Caney 1-8
Cleveland 0-10
