With an impressive finish, the Rockbridge County High School volleyball team earned a 3-1 home win over Shenandoah District rival Riverheads on Thursday night in Lexington.
In the fourth and final set, the Wildcats (7-7 overall, 5-6 district) broke away from a 7-4 lead by going on a 15-0 run, scoring 14 points in a row on Cesi Beidle’s serve to complete the 25-19, 23-25, 25-18, 25-6 victory.
With the win, the Wildcats avenged a 3-0 road loss to Riverheads (8-7, 4-6) from Sept. 8.
In the rematch, after the Wildcats honored their teachers on their first-ever Teacher Appreciation Night, RC overcame a 9-5 deficit to take the first set, with Beidle making four of her team-high 21 kills later in the set. The second set was a back-and-forth battle and was tied 23-23 before the Gladiators put it away on a Chesney Dunlap kill and an RC error.
The Wildcats pulled away from a close third set and carried the momentum in the fourth set to pull out the win.
Beidle led RC with five aces and had 15 digs, while Geneva Snyder recorded 10 kills, 18 digs and four aces. Eden Camden paced the Wildcats with 35 assists, while Adrianna Grue collected a team-high 27 digs. Other RC leaders were Braelyn Polly with 11 digs and Emerson Duff with four kills and three digs.
Chesney paced Riverheads with nine kills and had 11 assists and eight digs, while Emily Herndon had a team-high 18 digs, and Abi Bennington added seven digs. Meleah Shirley chipped in nine kills and eight digs.
The Wildcats will continue district play at Fort Defiance on Tuesday, starting with junior varsity action at 6 p.m.
For the story on this week’s action, with photos from Thursday’s match, please see our Oct. 14 newspaper.
