The Lady Cougars also won both games against the Lady Bulldogs in District 21-5A last season.

Junior setter Blair Thiebaud filled the stat sheet with 10 kills, 30 assists, four blocks and 12 digs.

College Station head coach Ashley Davis believes she can do it all on the court, from having the highest jumper on the team to outstanding swinging and setting skills, but Thiebaud’s biggest offseason development came off the court.

“I’ve seen her grow in her leadership role and the way she runs the field. The kids believe in her and trust her, and she never really gets rattled,” Davis said. “But more than that, she’s always really happy for her teammates. I don’t see her or her teammates getting very frustrated when we’re not successful.”

The Lady Cougars were a bit nervous in the first set due to the lively atmosphere.

At the beginning and end of the opening set there was a communication error.

A few early mistakes forced Davis to take a timeout as they tried to recover from an early 9-4 deficit.

As College Station (7-3) caught up and had a set point at 24-22, a ball flew into the air and three Lady Cougars circled around it, but none attacked it as it fell in front of them, drawing groans from the crowd.

“I think we had a little bit of home nerves in the first set, but we balanced it out and were able to handle it,” Davis said.

Magnolia (5-5) used this as a boost as the Lady Bulldogs took advantage of College Station’s mistakes and some kills to win the hard-fought set.

“We just focused on keeping talking so we wouldn’t have that situation again and we could focus on the next one,” sophomore outside hitter Cooper Binderup said of the conversations during timeouts in the first set.

College Station kept a good pace in the second set, but Magnolia cut the lead to 21-17 and forced a quick timeout from Davis. The Lady Cougars answered the call and closed the set with two kills and a crucial block from senior outside hitter Addisyn Green for the 25-19 win.

Junior libero Haley Nash, who is in her first year as a libero on the varsity team after moving from a position as a defensive specialist, finished with 19 digs and four aces.

“Nash has taken over the libero position and done such a great job that you would never know she didn’t play libero for us last year. That’s a credit to our school and our reputation for producing great liberos,” Davis said.

Binderup’s 13 kills were crucial, but perhaps none were more important than the one she scored late in the third set. After sitting on the bench for most of the set, Binderup came into the game and made an immediate impact. She managed two straight kills and was in the right place to force an error from Magnolia on a kill attempt that hit the net and gave College Station a boost.

“Whenever I come back, I want to be the one to score the next point or just come in with a lot of confidence,” she said.

With Avery Psencik graduating, they will now rely on Binderup, Green and Bella DeLeon to boost the performance of the outside attackers.

Binderup admits she has been in a weak phase recently and Tuesday’s performance has boosted her confidence.

“She’s had some injuries over the last few years,” Davis said. “She tore both knees and it’s nice to see her back on the court and start to perform at her best.”

Thiebaud set up a kill for junior Charlotte Taquet that ended the set and broke the Magnolia wall at the net. Taquet also finished the match with five blocks, a team-best.

This momentum continued into the fourth set and we took a 5-0 lead, thanks in large part to two errors from Magnolia, an ace from DeLeon and a tip from Thiebaud that just went over the net.

Magnolia made eight errors in the final set, helping the Lady Cougars to victory. College Station also benefited from 14 aces that night.

“I think anyone who knows me knows I love the serve game, and I love when our kids can maybe execute things that we see on the other side of the court and just hit points and gaps at the right angle,” Davis said.

The Lady Cougars are in Tomball on Friday at 5:30 p.m.