Cubettes win one, drop two on second day of Westwood Showcase Tournament

The Cubettes (2-4) scored at least 20 points in every one of their six sets in a competitive day of volleyball, but fell to the copper bracket of the event following its two losses.

Brenham coach Cydney Marlow said while there are mental obstacles for her team in the first week of the season, she was pleased with their versatility with several players taking on new roles.

“I think that the girls did a really good job of adapting to different positions all weekend and being available where they needed to be and really just being responsible with the ball,” she said. “Things did not go our way, but that does not mean that they are not going to for the rest of the year.”

Kingwood Park 2, Brenham 0

Brenham started the day with a tough matchup against Kingwood Park and showed grit to make both sets a close contest.

The Cubettes fell behind 9-2 early in set one, but quickly came back to tie the set at 13-13. Four different Cubettes earned kills during the comeback with senior defensive specialist Brooke Nienstedt and senior setter Reese Warmke earning aces.

Brenham earned momentary leads later in the set, including a 22-21 advantage after a block from junior Maggie Thibodeaux. Kingwood Park earned two set points, though, following a three-point run. Those set points were thwarted by kills from Thibodeaux and freshman Addilyn Streckfuss to force extra points.

Kingwood Park earned an ace and a kill to promptly take the set.

Brenham again had a pair of momentary leads in set two. Back-to-back blocks from Streckfuss gave the Cubettes a 19-18 lead while junior Harper Huckert turned in a strong attack to give Brenham a 20-19 lead. 

Kingwood Park won six of the next seven points, though, to put the Cubettes away.

Thibodeaux led the Cubettes with eight kills against the Panthers while showing strong vocal leadership throughout the match.

“Maggie is somebody who leads on and off the court by example … but more than anything, she fuels people out there,” Marlow said. “She fuels the defense, for sure. She is always talking, whether she is on the bench or whether she is on the court. She sees the floor. She listens to me really well. She sees what is open. She is a natural leader.”

Huckert tallied four kills, one solo block and one block assist. Streckfuss added three kills and two blocks. 

Brenham fell victim to serving errors throughout its opener with Marlow saying the Cubettes missed 11 serves.

“We kind of bury ourselves that way, especially when you are playing 6A schools,” she said.

Brenham 2, McNeil 0

The Cubettes bounced back after a short break to earn a two-set win over McNeil.

Both sets began with a strong serving run from senior setter Claire Huff. Her first run included three aces in a run that gave the Cubettes a 9-0 lead and forced McNeil to use both of its timeouts.

“Claire is a phenomenal server and she is a great spot server,” Marlow said. “If I tell her where to go, she is going within two inches of where I tell her.”

The Mavericks came back, though, to take a momentary lead after a kill pushed McNeil to an 18-17 lead. Marlow said some comfort on Brenham’s side and a smaller front row contributed to McNeil making a comeback.

Kills from Huff and junior Harper Castillo, a block from Huckert and an ace from junior defensive specialist Landry Kana added up for a four-point run shortly after McNeil took the lead and pushed Brenham to a 22-19 advantage. Brenham did not let go of its lead from there as Huckert put the set away with a kill and an ace.

Huff added two more aces in the opening four points of the second set in a five-point Cubette run. Brenham added to its lead with a seven-point run that was filled with three aces from junior Bailey Rogers as well as kills from Huckert and Thibodeaux.

Brenham added a third run as a pair of kills from junior hitter Gentri Gutierrez and an ace from Nienstedt, who took over as the Cubettes’ libero against McNeil, highlighted a five-point run that gave the Cubettes a 21-6 lead.

Huff added the last of her six aces to give Brenham a match point with the Cubettes needing just one match point to seal their victory. She led a Cubette serving effort that included 13 aces.

Huckert and Streckfuss both earned four kills against the Mavericks. Gutierrez put down three kills while Thibodeaux added two kills. 

Copperas Cove 2, Brenham 0

The Cubettes ended their day with a tough two-set defeat (21-25, 23-25) against Copperas Cove.

Brenham led for most of the opening set, including a 14-7 lead that came after five consecutive kills. Streckfuss and Gutierrez both earned two kills in the run while Rogers also added a kill.

Copperas Cove engineered a major surge, though, to finish the set. The Bulldawgs won 14 of the set’s last 18 points, including six of the final seven points, to claim the opening set.

Brenham fell behind 5-1 early in the second set, but came back to tie the set at 10-10 courtesy of three kills from Thibodeaux along with two more kills from the Cubettes and an ace from junior Bailey Conway.

The Cubettes tied the set two more times, but never took a lead. However, after Copperas Cove went on a four-point run to take an 18-14 lead, Brenham took the next three points on an attack error, a kill from Castillo and an ace from Conway to get within a point.

Brenham later had the task of surviving four match points after Copperas Cove took a 24-20 lead with kills on three straight points. The Cubettes survived three match points after two Bulldawg errors and a solid serve from junior Landry Kana, but gave up a kill to finish the match.

Thibodeaux earned eight kills with Streckfuss adding five kills and Huckert providing four kills. Conway provided two of Brenham’s three aces.

Brenham will seek to continue improving its serving consistency and attacking prowess while continuing to come together at the end in the copper bracket with two or three more matches to close the weekend.

“I think that they are growing to know the block together and they are going to figure out who is going to cover for who,” Marlow said. “It is a learning process, but I think tomorrow, we will be a little more heavy-handed than we were.”