The Rockbridge County High School volleyball team dropped a hard-fought 3-1 decision to defending Valley District champion Turner Ashby in Lexington last Monday.
The Wildcats then fell short in their first two Shenandoah District matches of the fall, losing to Buffalo Gap on the road and to Wilson Memorial at home. RC is now 1-3 on the season.
In last Monday’s contest, Sarah Hairston notched 13 kills and Anna Hairston added 10 as the Knights (7-1) recorded a 25-20, 21-25, 25-23, 25-17 victory. Tenley Knight tallied 30 assists for TA, and Makenna McNeal totaled three service aces.
Cesi Beidle posted a match-high 14 kills for the Wildcats. Geneva Snyder registered nine kills and three blocks for RC, but she left the game due to an injury midway through the third set. Allison Licona-Asto led the ’Cats with 16 assists and 10 digs, while Adrianna Grue had nine digs and Braelyn Polly finished with eight.
After dropping the opener, RC turned the tide in the second set – only to see Snyder, a six-rotation hitter, collide with a teammate on the decisive final point of the frame. Snyder tried to give it a go in the third set, which the Wildcats led on multiple occasions. But once the senior exited the match for good, momentum swung back in TA’s favor as the Knights secured the four-set win.
“There isn’t anything else that they could have done in that moment,” RC head coach Graceon Whitesell said of her squad’s response to Snyder’s injury. “It’s definitely tough, but we came together and tried to band together as a team.”
TA was in control for most of the first set, getting six kills from Sarah Hairston as the Wildcats’ defense struggled to contain the Knights’ attack. The visitors built up a 19-11 lead and then kept RC at arm’s length the rest of the way.
But RC tweaked its scheme in the second stanza, and the adjustments worked well to bottle up the TA offense. Beidle also came to life in the set, recording five kills as the Wildcats evened up the match.
“They just went out there and really sacrificed their bodies as best as possible,” Whitesell said. “It just kind of flowed together right for the second set.”
Despite getting hurt on the last point of that frame, Snyder came out and recorded three early kills in the third set. But she eventually had to leave the game for good, and a back-and-forth set that featured 11 ties and five lead changes ultimately went the Knights’ way.
“The third set was tough,” Whitesell said. “It came down to clutch points.”
TA carried its momentum into a dominant fourth set. The Knights raced out to a 20-7 advantage in the frame – and while the Wildcats showed some resolve with a late 6-0 run, they simply had too much ground to make up.
RC served up 12 aces in the match, getting three apiece from Beidle, Grue and Licona-Asto, while Emerson Duff chipped in four kills. Claire Stallard had five kills for TA, and Caroline Byerly and Adisyn Snead added four apiece.
Though the Wildcats came up short, they certainly acquitted themselves well against one of the strongest teams on their schedule.
“I’m very proud of them. I’m not going to allow that one game to discourage my season at all,” Whitesell said. “It’s super important that we just maintain our composure as a team – and continue our intentionality and intensity that we’ve started the season with.”
RC Falls To BG, WM
RC then fell in straight sets in its first two district contests of the season.
Last Tuesday in Swoope, Buffalo Gap (3-0, 2-0 district) recorded a 25-16, 25-18, 25-13 victory over the Wildcats. Wilson Memorial then picked up a 25-10, 25-22, 25-17 win over RC in Lexington on Thursday.
In the matchup with the Green Hornets (3-1, 2-0), Beidle paced the ’Cats with 11 kills while also picking up six digs and a block. Duff had five kills, Licona-Asto totaled 12 assists and seven digs, and Grue collected eight digs.
RC was scheduled to travel to Riverheads on Tuesday. The Wildcats will take on district foe Fort Defiance, the two-time VHSL Class 2 state runners-up, at home on Thursday, starting with the junior varsity contest at 6 p.m.
DIGGING UP A SPIKE, Rockbridge County senior libero Adrianna Grue starts the offense against Turner Ashby Monday, Aug. 31 in Lexington. The Wildcats dropped that volleyball match to the Knights, 3-1. (Stephanie Blevins photo)
AT THE NET, Rockbridge County’s Emerson Duff knocks down a spike in a non-district volleyball match against Turner Ashby Monday, Aug. 31, in Lexington. The Knights won three of the four sets to topple the Wildcats. (Stephanie Blevins photo)
