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RC Defeats East Rock In Valley Finals For 20th Straight Win
Overcoming a rough start, the Rockbridge County High School volleyball team won the Valley District tournament, earning a 3-1 home win over second-seeded East Rockingham in the finals on Thursday night in Lexington.
It was the 20th consecutive victory for the Wildcats (24-1 overall, 12-0 district), who finished strong to beat the Eagles 25-16, 1925, 25-22, 25-21.
For the past two years, the Valley District had not had a tournament, as teams advanced directly to the Region 3C tournament, based on regular-season records.
The Wildcats were scheduled to have a rematch with East Rockingham (17-8, 8-4) in a Region 3C quarterfinal match last night, with RC as the top seed and East Rock as the eighth seed. The winner advanced to the regional semifinals, which is scheduled to take place on Thursday at 6 p.m. The regional championship is set for Saturday afternoon. For the regional tournament schedule and updates, visit www.thenewsgazette. com.
During the regular season, the Wildcats, the regular-season district champions for the seventh consecutive season and the top seed in the four-team district tournament, captured two 3-0 wins over East Rockingham (17-8, 8-4). However, the Eagles battled hard and challenged the Wildcats with long rallies and a strong offense on Thursday night.
East Rock jumped out to an 11-4 lead in the first set, but the Wildcats battled back to tie it at 12-12. Winning 10 consecutive points on McKenzie Burch’s serve, RC went ahead 18-12 and closed out the set well.
In the second set, the Wildcats jumped out to a 7-2 lead, but East Rock chipped away at the advantage and capitalized on RC errors, ultimately pulling ahead and finishing the set on a 4-0 run.
Addressing the early challenges the Wildcats faced, RC head coach Kassidy Beagan said, “I think we had a hard time starting out, playing our game, so I think that we just need to reel that in a little bit in practice.”
Beagan added that the Eagles “have a really fast offense. They have a great setter, and she was hitting [to the] right side a little bit, so I think adjusting to that was important, and I think we could’ve done a little bit better job doing that.”
The Wildcats held a small lead for nearly the entire third set, ending it with a kill by Sophie Vaught. The fourth set was close the whole way, with the Wildcats ending it by winning the final four points, with three aces from Burch to finish the night.
After collecting their trophy, the Wildcats went to the locker room and then returned with confetti to celebrate with fans.
Vaught led RC with 11 kills and collected seven digs, while Shearer paced the Wildcats with 22 digs and four assists. Burch dished out 26 assists to lead RC and added 21 digs, five kills, five blocks and four aces. Other RC leaders were Maddie Dahl with nine kills, five blocks and 12 digs; Geneva Snyder with seven kills, Rebekah Allen with 13 digs, Hayley Higgins with seven digs, and Sophia Perlozzo with five kills and five digs. Beagan was especially pleased with Higgins, a sophomore who has been seeing more minutes lately. “She did a really great job,” said Beagan.
Kate Simpkins led East Rock with 10 kills and 16 d igs a nd h ad t wo a ces. A lso stepping up were Halla Baugher with 13 blocks and three kills and Alliyah McNair with 11 blocks, six kills and 20 assists.
After celebrating with teammates, Shearer, the Wildcats’ senior libero, talked about how the Wildcats were able to overcome the early adversity from East Rock. “We came together, and we made a plan, and we said to ourselves that we are going to have a plan,” she said. “We’re gonna be very intentional and plan everything that we’re gonna do, and we followed through with it, and we cleaned up all of our errors and went back to the basics, really.”
Reflecting on what it meant to win the district title, Shearer said, “It’s really special to us, especially to the seniors. We’ve worked really hard the past four years. All four of them, we’ve had district championships. I think it’s really special to the girls to be a part of that, and they were able to contribute an amazing amount, and I think it really showed that we can come together and everyone worked really hard.”
Beagan said she was “super proud” of her girls, who were finishing their second week in a row of three matches. “This team’s been through a lot, and they just keep pushing forward, no matter what,” she said.
RC 3, SHS 1
The Wildcats earned a 3-1 home win over Spotswood in the district semifinals last Wednesday.
In the two meetings during the regular season, the Wildcats defeated the Trailblazers both times, by scores of 3-0 and then 3-2. On Oct. 17, RC missed 16 serves. Beagan made this a focal point of the game plan heading into tournament play.
Last Wednesday, in their 21-25, 25-11, 25-18, 25-16 victory, the Wildcats had 12 aces as a team, with only five errors, to propel them to taking the final three sets.
“We worked on serving in practice,” said Beagan. “I think [my players] did a much better job with that.”
Spotswood (17-6, 7-5) came out hot in the first set, quickly jumping out to a 4-0 lead, but RC played the Blazers close throughout the set, as the teams traded three-to-four point swings in an exciting first frame.
“They came out serving tough,” said Beagan. “And we came out not passing. So I think that definitely was a rough start for us.”
During the break after a set in which the Wildcats never held the lead, Beagan needed to inspire and refocus her team, which has rarely dropped a set all year.
Began said she told her players that they “looked kind of like squirrels chasing nuts, like they were really chaotic. I told them that this is our game and our gym, and we’re going to play. And that’s what they did.”
The RC coach’s words seemed to be well received by her team, as the Wildcats came out of the break with guns blazing, jumping out to a quick 7-0 lead, prompting a Spotswood timeout.
The momentum appeared to have shifted quickly, as RC cruised to wins in the second, third, and fourth sets to advance to the finals.
Vaught and Perlozzo combined for 29 kills on the night, while Burch tallied 22 digs and accounted for 39 of the Wildcats’ 41 assists. Shearer contributed five aces. All four players are seniors.
Beagan said that, when her team faces adversity, she looks to the seniors to provide leadership.
“All of the seniors are really important, just to make the few underclassmen that are on the court calm, and then also they need to bring themselves together,” said Beagan. The seniors will look at each other and say, ‘We got this.’ So I think that they’re a big key.”
Despite receiving a shock early, Beagan remained confident in her team. “I don’t have any doubt at any point where I don’t think they can come back in a match,” Beagan said of her players.
RC 3, WM 0
The Wildcats concluded the regular season with a 3-0 road win over district rival William Monroe (7-12, 2-10) on Monday of last week in Stanardsville. RC cruised to a 25-9, 25-20, 25-11 victory.
