While Cinco Ranch stayed undefeated in District 19-6A play with a come-from-behind 3-2 win against Katy at home on Oct. 1, the match showed that, on any given night, the Cougars can be beaten if they don’t play as sharply as their potential allows.

Cinco Ranch faced early deficits in several sets against Katy, but ultimately prevailed 18-25, 25-18, 22-25, 25-16, 15-10. It was an odd night of volleyball, as both teams got out to large leads in their wins, with only the third set featuring a margin within three points.

Cougars coach Danielle Wells said the team is still working through options when it comes to defense, passing and setting. Senior setter and captain Aislan Lennon is out with a hand injury for six to eight weeks, with Wells saying that timetable would be right around the time for the playoffs.

“Depending on how she comes back will determine where we go from there. But I’m not thinking about that; I’m thinking about Friday,” Wells said, referring to the Cougars’ next game against Taylor. “We know the capabilities that we have in the front row. It’s getting the ball to that specific height and that specific tempo and that specific speed, and getting more used to that. They’re used to hitting off Lennon, and now they’re trying to adjust.”

Senior Danyle Courtley led the way for Cinco Ranch (5-0 19-6A) with 19 kills, and her night was reflective of the Cougars’ play. She had five kills each in sets two and four — Cougars wins — and two kills each in sets one and three, Cougars losses.

“We’ve been working on it,” Courtley said of the adjustment from Lennon’s passing. “In practice, we’ve tried new setters. We’ll get there, but we still need to work on it a bit.”

Against the Tigers, junior Eva Fitzgerald and sophomore Catalina Martinez, freshly promoted from the junior varsity, emerged as the best at setting up Courtley, senior Haley Payne (14 kills), senior Madalyn O’Brien (10) and junior Kayla Griebl (8).

“There were definitely points that she (Martinez) came in and stabilized, along with the other setter, Eva Fitzgerald,” Wells said. “I think with Catalina, she’s still getting used to the pace of varsity. Our goal is to hopefully get her there, and I think she’s getting there.”

Katy (3-2 19-6A) took a 2-1 lead in the match, mostly due to an incredible individual effort by sophomore Maddie Waak and outside hitting from three upperclassmen.

Waak, an LSU verbal commit, was the Tigers’ best defender on the strong attacks from Cinco Ranch, and she alternated between setting up the attack and using her own powerful left-handed strike to notch 14 kills. Seniors Skylor Weaver and Karah Parkerson, and junior Perris Key, had 14, 11 and eight kills, respectively.

However, the Tigers’ kills from the left and right of the net vanished in sets four and five as the Cinco Ranch defense got better. In the final two sets, Cinco Ranch only committed four errors.

Wells noted that the way the night shook out, the Cougars had to play almost error-free to hold off the Tigers.

“We came out behind in game one, and we came out behind in game three, and you can’t come behind in games against teams that are good,” she said. “You have to come out ready to play from game one, and we didn’t show that. We got our backs against the wall, and at that point, you have to play perfect volleyball.”

Courtley said she tries to keep the team composed as one of the team’s senior leaders.

“I just tell everyone to focus. We sometimes struggle getting our first ball kills, and we’ve been working on that in practice,” she said. “Sometimes we get into holes, and I just try to get everyone going and back in the game, and we keep on rolling.”