Lady Bearcats Claim First Two Wins Of The Coach Dewberry Era

HOLLY SPRINGS, Miss. – The Rust College volleyball program opened the 2021 fall campaign with a resounding win on the road at Oakwood while also taking a five-set thriller with Miles College to pick up Head Coach Diamond Dewberry's first career wins as a collegiate head coach.

The Lady Bearcats (2-7) controlled the season opening tilt at Oakwood from the first serve, hitting .277 as a team through the first two sets with six different student-athletes logging at least one kill as RC cruised to a sweep (25-17, 25-16, 25-16).

Rust would hit a bit of a rough patch in the ensuing four matches, falling in straight sets against Philander Smith, Talladega and Harris-Stowe plus taking the opening game in a defeat to Crowley's Ridge.

Coach Dewberry and the ladies got back on track in a huge way in the inaugural Bearcat Invitational, toppling NCAA Division II foe and fellow HBCU Miles College in a back-and-forth battle that went the distance (25-20, 25-18, 24-26, 18-25, 15-9).

 The last three contests have all ended with the Lady Bearcats on the wrong side of the scoreboard, getting tripped up by Austin College, Rhodes and Texas Lutheran.

Over the eight matches recorded in the NAIA statistical database, Jada Brooks has come out on top as the club's top attacker with 43 kills over 21 sets for an average of 2.05 and a .154 hitting percentage. Brooks has done it all for the Lady Bearcats, serving up the most aces with eight as well as a team-high 47 digs.

Kennedi Coleman has set up most of the kills smashed by RC, dishing out 70 helpers for 5.00 assists per set.

One of the squad's top returners is DhaMonique Sanders, who has protected the net to the tune of 15 blocks and a 0.71 average per set.

The other player that competed in the spring is Alandria Calhoun, who has been a steady veteran presence along with Sanders while producing 19 digs, 17 kills, eight blocks, five service aces and four assists.