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The Rockbridge County High School volleyball team continued its impressive season on Thursday by sweeping William Monroe 3-0 in a convincing victory.
The Wildcats grabbed the lead early, opening the first set on a 6-0 run, and never let go of it until the final whistle sounded.
Seniors Sophia Perlozzo, Maddie Dahl and Sophie Vaught led the charge for RC (15-1, 5-0 Valley). Perlozzo tallied 14 kills, three digs and one block. Dahl totaled eight kills, six digs, four blocks and two aces as the Wildcats cruised to a 25-9, 25-15, 25-10 win.
RC head coach Kassidy Beagan had nothing but positive things to say about her team’s efforts.
“[The seniors] did a great job. Maddie Dahl was putting balls down, and Sophie Vaught was putting balls down,” Beagan said. “They all did a great job. Setter did a great job, libero did a great job, so all the way around they played great together.”
Dahl set the tone for RC’s defense early on, but it was senior McKenzie Burch who played facilitator for the Wildcat attack. Burch racked up 30 assists and 12 digs.
The Wildcats were never threatened by William Monroe’s offense. RC grabbed the first point in each of the three sets and held on for convincing wins in all of them.
The Dragons’ biggest chance came in the second set. As the Wildcats looked to be cruising yet again, jumping out to 17-4 lead propelled by an 8-0 run, William Monroe (7-6, 2-4) started to fight back, returning six unanswered points to make it 17-10.
Beagan opted for a timeout to refocus her team, as it seemed a momentum shift was taking place. The Wildcats came out of the stoppage guns blazing, comfortably closing out the second set 25-15.
The third set proved to be more of the same as RC capitalized on an early 11-3 run, going on to claim the match victory with a 25-10 win.
While the senior stars shined the brightest on Thursday, Beagan praised the efforts up and down the roster, particularly for some younger faces.
“I think working in some of the younger girls in there was a big push at the end of the game,” she said. “Our servers did a great job holding up the line and continuing to run our [system]. On the opposite side, our defense helped us out there, setting our block. We’re still working on those things in practice, but that was a big key.”
Freshman Geneva Snyder earned one kill, two blocks and one dig. Sophomore Jada Hamilton tallied three kills, three blocks and one dig, and fellow sophomore Ava Crocker also had one dig.
RC’s match at Turner Ashby, originally slated for last Tuesday, was rescheduled for Monday evening. The Wildcats were then set to face Broadway at home on Tuesday, followed by a trip to East Rockingham on Thursday. Tomorrow’s junior varsity action begins at 5:30 p.m.
