RC Netters Hope To Build On Last Year’s Late Run
Returning 11 players, the Rockbridge County High School volleyball team is eager to build on last year’s playoff run.
The Wildcats, under the direction of second-year head coach Gabe Wagner, only graduated one senior, Rebekah Allen, a setter and libero, from last year’s squad. In the spring, Allen signed her national letter of intent to play Division III volleyball for Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg.
In what was expected to be a rebuilding season, the Wildcats went 12-11 overall and 9-5 in the Valley District last fall. They qualified for the Region 3C tournament as the 11th seed and upset their first two opponents, sixth-seeded Western Albemarle in the first round and third-seeded East Rockingham in the quarterfinals, in five-set thrillers. The Wildcats’ season ended with a 3-1 loss at second-seeded Alleghany in the regional semifinals, as Alleghany advanced to the Class 3 state quarterfinals before falling to Christiansburg.
“I thought we found it at the end,” said Wagner. Earlier in the season, he said his players “struggled learning. I thought it was hard for the girls to go from their previous coach [Kassidy Beagan] to me, pretty starkly different [coaches]. The motivation aspects were tough at the beginning, but once we figured it out at the end, we were able to win a couple playoff games. … We were always capable.”
This year, the Wildcats have plenty of talented hitters and are deep in experience, with six seniors, all returning players. “It’s a good senior core,” said Wagner. “Every single one of them got a substantial amount of playing time.”
Leading the senior class are all-district players Jada Hamilton, Maisen Mckemy and Madison McCormick. Last fall, Hamilton, an outside hitter, made the all-district first team and the all-region second team. She was a force at the net, often leading the Wildcats in kills, and McCormick, a middle hitter who was an all-district second-team selection, also had her share of kills. Wagner said Hamilton and McCormick “are pretty exceptional offensive talents. They’re gonna put a lot of balls away for us.”
Mckemy, an all-district second-team selection as a setter, is expected to be the main distributor of assists for the Wildcats, and Wagner looks for her to also lead in other ways. “It kind of goes understated what Maisen does because she’s so quiet at times,” said Wagner. “She’s a natural leader and one of the best high school setters in the state, I think. She’s very smart, and she’s gonna lead us to being good.”
The Wildcats’ three other returning seniors are Ava Crocker, Hayley Higgins and Geneva Snyder. Crocker, who specialized in defense as a libero last year, played the least of any of the seniors last fall because she was out nine weeks with an ankle injury. With Crocker healthy again, Wagner said, “I expect her to make very large contributions as one of our leaders on defense.”
Higgins also spent time at the libero position last year and “will come in and play a lot of defense for us and serve, receive and do good things,” said Wagner.
Snyder is an outside hitter who helps the Wildcats with her strong serving and putting away kills while also making blocks at the net.
Joining the Wildcats’ seniors are six juniors and three sophomores. Returning juniors are Tadara Cooper, Emerson Duff, Adrianna Grue, Emma Johnson and Savannah Whitmer. Braelyn Polly was a libero for the junior varsity team as a sophomore and served as the varsity squad’s manager.
Cooper, Duff, Grue, Johnson and Whitmer all played well in their first year at the varsity level last year. Cooper and Duff are hitters, Grue and Whitmer were liberos last year, and Johnson, a setter and right-side hitter, moved from the JV level about halfway through last fall.
The Wildcats’ sophomores, all new to the varsity squad, are Francesca (Cesi) Beidle, Allison Licona-Asto and Madeline White. Licona-Asto is a setter, while White is a middle hitter, with both getting JV experience last year. Beidle transferred from a high school in Houston, Texas, where she was an outside hitter and defensive specialist.
Returning to serve as assistant coaches are Jaden Harrison, a 2019 RC graduate who was an all-region volleyball player in high school, and Justin Madsen, who will be RC’s head JV coach and a varsity assistant.
For the last three years, Wagner, an assistant coach for the Southern Virginia University men’s volleyball team in the spring, coached Madsen, an All-American libero for the Knights. Before graduating in the spring, Madsen, with guidance from Wagner and other SVU coaches, helped the Knights go 35-1 and win their first national title in school history, with a 3-0 victory over Springfield College in the Division III national championship in Salem in late April.
The Wildcats lost one of their assistant coaches, Jeremy Brown, who was an outside hitter for SVU’s national championship team and is now a graduate assistant coach for Springfield College.
RC’s managers this year are Reece Havird and Alysa Mc-Neil.
Starting this school year, the Wildcats have switched from the Valley District to the Shenandoah District, with shorter travel distances.
Several district opponents are familiar, including longtime rivals Alleghany and Fort Defiance. Alleghany lost a lot of talent from last year’s squad, Wagner noted, while Fort has often been a tough opponent for the Wildcats.
After two road scrimmages this week, the Wildcats will open the season on Tuesday with a home match against local rival Parry McCluer, which split a pair of matches with RC last year, starting with JV action at 5:30 p.m. RC will then begin Shenandoah District action at Wilson Memorial on Tuesday, Sept. 2, with JV action starting at 6 p.m.
Looking forward to the season, Wagner said, “We’re a very capable team with such a great group of girls. Our ability to gel will dictate how successful we are. … External stressors and external opinions, that’s also going to dictate how successful we are, and if we’re able to eliminate that, we will make a deep playoff run.”
