The Brenham Cubettes completed a season sweep over Huntsville on Friday by defeating the Hornets in four sets.
Brenham earned a 25-23, 23-25, 25-18, 25-19 victory to solidify its fifth-place district standing. While the Cubettes (24-17, 3-7 district) are out of postseason contention, they can finish no worse than a tie for fifth.
Friday marked Brenham’s second four-set win over Huntsville (17-27, 1-10 district) this season.
The Cubettes showcased excellent ball distribution and a solid attack on Friday. Brenham put down 52 kills as a team with just 15 errors.
Senior hitter Antyiahna Lang and sophomore outside hitter Hannah Bush tied for the team lead with 13 kills. Lang did not commit a hitting error in her 25 attacks, leading to a .520 hitting percentage.
Lang crossed the 400-kill season milestone on Friday to go with her 200-career block milestone she achieved on Tuesday against Montgomery.
Brenham coach Megan Whalen said Lang had another great night while impressing Huntsville’s coaching staff on the other side with her athleticism.
Bush’s 13 kills came in 41 attacks with four errors for a .220 hitting percentage.
Junior outside hitter Brooklynn Stolz and sophomore outside hitter Maggie Thibodeaux also performed well. Stolz earned nine kills and a .350 hitting percentage while Thibodeaux recorded eight kills.
Stolz’s kills tied her season high while also earning her fifth-highest hitting percentage in a match. Her four best hitting percentages all came in matches with five attacks or fewer compared to Friday’s 20 attacks.
Brenham’s attack operated through three setters. Junior Claire Huff led the group with 15 assists. Senior setter Brinley Benson added 13 assists and junior Reese Warmke tied her season high with 12 assists.
Whalen showed an eye toward the future by giving Warmke significant playing time, saying she wants to make sure her returning players for next year are prepared.
“She shows up for practice every day and works her butt off,” she said. “In the back of my mind in every single match, I am like, ‘I kind of want Reese to be in. I need to get Reese more time.'”
Warmke also delivered four aces to tie her season high. Friday’s aces make up four of her five aces in district play.
Huff and Benson also had four aces to share the team lead. Senior defensive specialist Swayzee Huckert served three aces with junior libero Logan Hayslip and senior defensive specialist Zoe Zwerneman each adding two aces.
Brenham earned 20 aces as a team, doubling its 10 service errors. Whalen wanted her team to serve aggressively, saying aggressive serving will be needed for its next match against A&M Consolidated.
“I told them to go aggressive and if we error, we error,” she said. “Let’s see if we can go for the ace over anything.”
Sophomore middle blocker Harper Huckert earned Brenham’s only two blocks of the match.
Hayslip led Brenham defensively with 22 digs. She crossed the 700-dig milestone for the season on Friday.
Bush added 20 digs for her fourth 20-dig match of the season. Zwerneman tallied 12 digs while senior middle blocker Kylie Baker provided nine digs. Four more Cubettes earned at least five digs.
Brenham will host its senior night on Tuesday against A&M Consolidated. The Cubettes will honor their seniors before the varsity match, which is scheduled for 6 p.m.