Wildcats Overcome Improved Blues, Earn 3-0 Win
The high school volleyball rematch between Rockbridge County and Parry McCluer was more competitive than their first showdown, but the result was the same, with RC earning a 3-0 home win on Monday of last week in Lexington.
The Wildcats, who had won 3-0 at PM in the season opener on Aug. 25, were tested by the Fighting Blues, but RC secured its first home victory with a 25-15, 25-21, 25-23 triumph. At PM, the Wildcats had notched a 25-20, 25-13, 25-9 victory.
After splitting a pair of Shenandoah District matches with Waynesboro and Alleghany, the Wildcats would end the week with a record of 3-6. The Blues lost a pair of 3-0 matches to Narrows and Eastern Montgomery to conclude the week at 1-8. (See separate stories.)
In the rematch against PM, RC got off to a strong start, with Cesi Beidle getting a pair of her match-high 11 kills to help the Wildcats build up a double-digit lead in the first set.
In the second set, the Wildcats held a small lead most of the way before the Blues battled back and went on a 6-0 run to cut it to 23-21. After a PM error, RC’s Tadara Cooper ended the set with a kill.
The third set was a back-and-forth battle, with the Blues taking a 12-10 lead before the Wildcats scored the next four points. RC would go up 23-19, but the Blues weren’t done, winning the next four points to tie the match at 2323. PM then missed the serve, and Beidle ended the match with an ace.
Praising her players, RC head coach Graceon Whitesell said, “We did a great job tonight of spreading out the offense and just making sure everybody was involved in play, whether they were contributing with digs or kills or hits.”
Other than Beidle, who had 10 digs and three aces, RC’s leaders were Adrianna Grue with 25 digs, Geneva Snyder with seven kills, eight digs and three aces; Emerson Duff with four kills and a block, Braelyn Polly with nine digs, and Eden Camden with 25 assists in her first varsity match. Camden, a freshman setter, moved up from the junior varsity squad in place of Allison Licona-Asto, who was out with an injury.
Josie Martinez led PM with six kills and had two blocks and two aces, while Jorja Catlett registered four kills, 11 assists and four aces. Presley Camden paced PM with 18 digs and served up two aces, while Ciara Hamilton had 10 digs and a pair of aces, and Jaelyn Manning chipped in three kills.
RC JUNIOR hitter Cesi Beidle (14) leaps for the ball while senior libero Adrianna Grue (13) watches and Fighting Blues Josie Martinez (8) and Presley Camden (10) prepare for the return. Beidle led the Wildcats with 14 kills and added 10 digs and three aces. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo) Proud of her team’s improvement, PM head coach Elle Kindred said, “I’m very pleased. It’s much better than the first time, and I told [my players] I would take this loss over any of our others.” Kindred said her players passed a lot better than in the previous showdown with the Wildcats.
Kindred said she had seen the Blues’ potential in their 3-0 road win over Nelson County the previous Wednesday. “They had energy, played together, communicated…all the things I know they’re capable of, the things they can do,” she said.
The PM coach said that, with the Blues down two sets and tied 2323, they were in a situation with pressure that they weren’t familiar with, and she intended to use that in practice. “I will take blame for that because we haven’t done a lot of things like that,” said Kindred.
Whitesell acknowledged that the Blues have improved and said it was good for her team to get tested in the rematch. “Credit to them because they definitely came out with a lot of fire, and I think that was really good for us,” she said.
