Wildcats Overcome 2-0 Deficit To Beat Cougars
The seven seniors on the Rockbridge County High School volleyball team weren’t going to let the Wildcats suffer defeat in what was likely the final home match of their careers.
Fueled by the emotions of senior night, RC stormed back from a 2-0 deficit to claim a 5-set win over Stuarts Draft in a Shenandoah District matchup in Lexington on Thursday.
The Wildcats (9-9, 7-8 district) celebrated their special night by rallying for a 19-25, 20-25, 25-19, 25-23, 15-9 victory over the Cougars (8-10, 4-10).
Geneva Snyder and Cesi Beidle both notched doubledoubles for RC while posting 16 kills apiece. Beidle collected 14 digs, and Snyder totaled 10 digs, seven service aces and three blocks.
Eden Camden recorded 30 assists and eight digs for the ’Cats, who had beaten Draft 3-0 on the road back on Sept. 22. Adrianna Grue tallied 24 digs, and Addyson Pennington notched five blocks.
Lily May posted a matchhigh 17 kills and added four blocks for the Cougars. Addyson Dameron amassed 48 assists for Draft – including the 1,000th of her career – while Kylie Morland finished with 15 kills and three aces, and Serenity Hamric had 12 kills. Prior to the game, the Wildcats honored their sevenmember senior class: Grue, Snyder, Tadara Cooper, Emmy Duff, Braelyn Polly, Madeline White and Savannah Whitmer.
WILDCAT SENIOR libero Adrianna Grue collects one of her team-high 24 digs while senior teammate Geneva Snyder watches. Snyder had 16 kills and 10 digs. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
More than any tactical adjustments, RC head coach Graceon Whitesell thought that her team’s “mentality switch” after the second set fueled the Wildcats’ comeback.
“I think just the belief that our seniors put in between the second and third set – of them just saying, ‘We are not going out of here without a win tonight,’” Whitesell said. “That’s a motto that we’ve talked about this week: just making sure that we are accepting nothing less than winning.”
The Cougars dominated the early stages of the match, getting 26 assists from Dameron and eight kills apiece from Hamric and Morland across the first two sets en route to a 2-0 advantage. Draft used key 6-0 runs midway through each frame to create separation from RC.
But after falling behind 5-2 in the third stanza, the Wildcats seemed to wake up. A long service run from Snyder helped turn an 11-9 deficit into a 19-11 advantage, and RC held off the Cougars down the stretch to get on the board at 2-1.
After struggling to contain the Draft offense across the first two sets, the Wildcats’ defense came to life in the third. Pennington was involved in all four of RC’s blocks in the frame, including a solo effort during Snyder’s service run.
“For our defense to pick up was a huge thing for us – especially on the front row, when we were getting a couple of key blocks that we needed,” Whitesell said.
Draft held an 18-15 lead in the fourth set, but an 8-2 spurt from RC turned things in the hosts’ favor at 23-20. The Cougars closed to within 24-23, but Snyder knotted up the match with her sixth kill of the frame.
The tiebreak set was deadlocked at 7-7 when the Wildcats went on another run, pulling away with a stretch that featured three Snyder kills, a Camden ace that dropped straight to the court after clipping the tape, and a kill from Beidle on match point.
Cooper chipped in four kills and Duff had three for the ’Cats, while Polly contributed five digs. Takota Moore and Adyson Coyner each totaled four kills for Draft, and Lyla Shifflett registered three blocks.
Whitesell is hoping that the Wildcats will get a big boost from such a dramatic senior night comeback.
“It can absolutely charge them up,” the first-year RC coach said. “Just leaving everything out on the floor, the home floor tonight – and knowing that we’re not coming back here – it just means the world to them.
“They talked about that in the locker room: how we need to carry this momentum into the rest of our season,” Whitesell added.
Alleghany 3, RC 0
RC dropped a 3-0 decision to Alleghany on the road last Tuesday.
The Cougars defended their home court and completed a season sweep of the Wildcats with a 25-15, 25-19, 25-20 victory. Alleghany would improve to 17-3 overall and 11-3 in the Shenandoah with a 3-0 win at Staunton on Thursday.
In last Tuesday’s match, Snyder posted seven kills and 15 digs for RC, while Beidle finished with seven kills, six digs and two aces. Camden had 14 assists, Grue notched eight digs, and Cooper contributed three blocks.
The Wildcats were slated to visit Staunton on Monday. RC will wrap up the regular season with a nondistrict matchup at Turner Ashby tonight, beginning with the junior varsity contest at 5:30 p.m. The Wildcats will then wait to see if they’re one of 12 teams to advance to the Region 3C tournament. For updates, visit www.thenews-gazette.com.
RC JUNIOR hitter Cesi Beidle gets under the ball for one of her 14 digs. Beidle also had 16 kills. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
