Fueled by strong serving and defense, the Rockbridge County High School volleyball team earned a hard-fought 3-0 road win over Shenandoah District rival Stuarts Draft on Tuesday of last week.
With the 25-23, 25-19, 26-24 win in their only match of the week, the Wildcats improved to 4-6 overall and 2-5 in the district. After a 3-1 road win over district rival Staunton on Thursday, Draft improved to 6-4 overall and 3-3 in the district.
Going into the match against RC, the Cougars were coming off a 3-2 comeback win over Broadway the night before.
“They were coming into the match with plenty of momentum,” said RC head coach Graceon Whitesell of the Cougars. “We did a good job of controlling the match tempo from the very beginning by having tough serving and siding out when we needed to. We played very solid defense against their strong swinging hitters.”
Cesi Beidle led the Wildcats with 12 kills and collected 14 digs, while Geneva Snyder had nine kills and 18 digs. Freshman setter Eden Camden dished out 21 assists to lead RC and had six digs, while Adrianna Grue paced the Wildcats with 28 digs, eclipsing 100 digs for the season. Braelyn Polly chipped in seven digs, and Addy Pennington led the Wildcats with three aces.
Praising her players for their effort, Whitesell said, “I am very proud of the girls for the grit and toughness that they showed throughout the match. Even when the sets were close, they trusted each other to do their jobs and execute, which is a goal that we have been working towards all year.”
The Wildcats were scheduled to face Staunton at home last night and continue district action when they play host to Buffalo Gap on Thursday before visiting district rival Wilson Memorial on Tuesday, starting with junior varsity action at 6 p.m. on both nights.
