‘Cats Handle Waynesboro RC Can’t Keep Up With League-Leading FD
Keeping its playoff hopes alive, the Rockbridge County High School volleyball team split a pair of Shenandoah District matches last week, falling 3-0 at Fort Defiance last Tuesday before defeating Waynesboro 3-0 at home on Thursday.
The Wildcats concluded the week at 8-8 overall and 6-7 in the district.
With the 25-17, 25-21, 25-22 victory over Waynesboro (1-18 overall, 0-12 district), the Wildcats completed a sweep of the season series. When the teams met on Sept. 15 at Waynesboro, RC won 3-0.
Impressed by the Lady Giants’ improvement in the rematch, RC head coach Graceon Whitesell said, “Kudos to their coach because they played much more aggressively. However, our girls took more pride in taking care of our side of the net as the match progressed.
“Sometimes, a bit of adversity when playing a team is good, especially being this close to the postseason. … I am very proud of the girls for being able to handle business.”
Cesi Beidle led the Wildcats with 16 kills and had 11 digs and two aces, while Geneva Snyder added 11 kills , seven digs, and a team-high three aces. Eden Camden paced the Wildcats with 26 assists and collected seven digs. Adrianna Grue led RC with 23 digs. Also stepping up for the Wildcats were Braelyn Polly with eight digs, Emerson Duff with four kills, and Addy Pennington with a team-high three blocks, four digs and two kills.
FD 3, RC 0
District leader Fort Defiance cruised to a 25-11, 25-17, 25-11 victory over the visiting Wildcats on Tuesday of last week. The Indians, who had beaten the Wildcats 3-0 on Sept. 10 in Lexington, ended the week at 18-1 overall and 13-0 in the district.
“They are a tough program to play in general,” said Whitesell of the Indians. “They have strong leadership, which makes their program strong. We definitely made our own mistakes throughout the match, which ultimately hurt us. We didn’t strive to meet the goals that we had set for the match, which made it difficult to stay in the match.”
Beidle led the Wildcats with six kills and had three digs, while Snyder paced RC with 11 digs and recorded five kills. Camden led RC with nine assists, while Grue and Polly each collected seven digs.
Freshman standout Maddie Gale paced the Indians with 30 assists, 13 digs and five aces and had six kills. Caroline Hanger led Fort with 11 kills and added seven digs, while Harper Carter and Livia Clinedinst each recorded eight kills. Abbi Bright contributed 10 digs, while Norah Anderson had nine digs, five assists and two aces.
The Wildcats were scheduled to play at Alleghany last night and will play host to Stuarts Draft for their final home contest of the regular season on Thursday, starting with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m. Before the varsity match, the Wildcats will honor their seven seniors. RC will travel to take on district rival Staunton on Monday, starting with JV action at 6 p.m., before concluding the regular season at nondistrict rival Turner Ashby next Wednesday, Oct. 28, beginning with the JV match at 5:30 p.m.
WILDCAT SENIOR hitter Geneva Snyder dives for the ball while teammates Emerson Duff (12) and Adrianna Grue (right) watch. Snyder recorded 11 kills and seven digs and led RC with three aces. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
LEAPING TO spike the ball is RC senior hitter Tadara Cooper while teammates (from left) Eden Camden, Emerson Duff and Geneva Snyder observe. Cooper contributed two kills, one block and an ace. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
