Ending the season on a high note, the Rockbridge County High School volleyball team earned a 3-0 home win over Buffalo Gap on Thursday in Lexington.
With the 25-14, 25-21, 25-15 victory, the Wildcats (10-10 overall, 8-8 district) completed a sweep of the season series with the Bison (4-16, 2-14). When the teams met on Sept. 30 in Swoope, RC won 3-1.
In an up-and-down season that saw the Wildcats deal with several injuries, RC came up a bit short of advancing to the Region 3C tournament. In their other match this week, the Wildcats earned a 3-1 road win over district rival Staunton (9-11, 6-10) on Tuesday.
On Thursday, the Wildcats, who served well and played aggressively, led comfortably for most of the match and were only challenged seriously in the second set. Gap had a 15-14 lead midway through the set, but the Wildcats pulled ahead with strong net play and capitalized on Bison errors to take the set.
Before the rematch, the Wildcats honored their five seniors: Ava Crocker, Jada Hamilton, Hayley Higgins, Mackenzie McCormick and Maisen McKemy.
All of the seniors started and contributed. Hamilton led RC with 10 kills and had 13 digs and three blocks, while Crocker paced the Wildcats with 28 digs. McKemy, who finished her career with more than 1,000 assists, led RC with 23 assists and had three aces. McCormick paced the Wildcats with five aces and added six kills, five digs and three blocks. Higgins collected 12 digs, and her serving helped the Wildcats take a 5-0 lead in the third set.
Also stepping up for the Wildcats were four juniors: Adrianna Grue with seven digs, Geneva Sndyer with four kills, Emmy Duff with three kills, and Cesi Beidle with two aces and two kills.
Bailey Tribble led Gap with nine kills, 13 digs and five aces. Brailyn Green recorded seven digs, and Avery Wheeler contributed 11 digs, nine assists and two aces.
For the full story on this week’s action and a season wrap-up, with photos from Thursday’s win and comments from second-year RC head coach Gabe Wagner and the Wildcats’ seniors, please see our Nov. 5 newspaper.
