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Wildcats Lose Nailbiter To East Rockingham
The Rockbridge County High School volleyball team lost its first two Valley District matches of the season, suffering a 3-0 road loss to Broadway on Tuesday of last week before coming up just short, 3-2, at home against East Rockingham on Thursday night in Lexington.
The setbacks followed the first win of the season for the Wildcats (1-6 overall, 0-2 district), who earned a 3-0 home victory over Parry McCluer (5-2) on Monday of last week. (See separate story.)
In the district opener, Broadway (7-2, 1-0) defeated the Wildcats 25-20, 25-18, 25-17.
The Wildcats responded two days later with perhaps their best performance of the season, battling back from a 2-1 deficit before falling at home 3-2 against East Rockingham in a marathon match on Thursday.
Playing their first five-set match of the season, which lasted more than two hours, the Wildcats won the first set, but ER (9-2, 2-0) took the next two sets and held off a late challenge by RC to earn a 22-25, 25-17, 25-22, 23-25, 15-11 win in the rowdy gym.
“Tonight was one of the most special volleyball matches I think I’ve ever been a part of,” said RC head coach Gabe Wagner.
Proud of his players’ effort, the first-year RC coach said, “It’s truly impressive the resilience that they’re starting to show. One thing that I’m really pushing for them is that they’re good at this, building that confidence because they don’t have it, and tonight they had it.”
The Wildcats trailed 6-3 in the first set before Jada Hamilton put away two kills at the net during a 6-3 run that gave RC a 9-7 lead. The Eagles took the lead back and were up 21-18 before Ava Crocker made a kill. Mackenzie Mc-Cormick put away two kills to guide the Wildcats’ comeback to take the first set.
The second set was a backand- forth battle early before the Wildcats went ahead 12-10, but the Eagles battled back to take a 16-15 lead and didn’t trail again, enduring long rallies to pull away.
In the third set, ER jumped out to a 4-0 lead and gradually extended it, leading 19-9. However, the Wildcats then went on a 9-0 run, winning eight points on Hamilton’s serve, to cut the Eagles’ lead to 19-18. ER then went ahead by three, capitalizing on RC errors, and had a strong finish to the set.
The Eagles took a 10-8 lead in the third set, but the Wildcats then went on a 6-0 run, with two kills by Geneva Snyder during that stretch, to grab a 14-10 lead. ER responded with a 6-1 run to go up 16-15, but the Wildcats answered back and edged ER in the set, 25-23. When the Wildcats were up 22-21, Crocker was injured. She had to leave the court and would not return.
The final set was tight, with the two teams trading points before ER’s powerful 6-foot-1-inch setter and rightside hitter Alliyah McNair made two kills to give the Eagles a 12-9 lead. After a kill by Snyder, the Wildcats would cut it to 13-11, but the match ended with a kill by McNair and an RC error.
Snyder led the Wildcats with 16 kills and had 12 digs, while Maisen McKemy paced RC with 42 assists and collected 10 digs. Rebekah Allen led all players with 34 digs and had a team-high four aces, and Hamilton added 15 kills and 24 digs. Crocker had 21 digs and five kills. Also stepping up for RC were McCormick with six kills and nine digs and Hayley Higgins with seven digs.
In particular, Wagner was pleased with Hamilton, a junior outside hitter, who had a letdown after a strong start, but she finished the match well. He said that example carried over to the other Wildcats. “She started out great and fell apart,” he said. “We pulled her, but she turned it back on somehow and found it in there, and that can be said for a lot of girls out there tonight. It was just awesome to be part of.”
Leading the Eagles was McNair with 31 kills, 25 digs and two aces. Alison Hooke dished out 34 assists and had 15 digs for ER, while teammate Maya Ramirez added nine kills and 15 digs.
The Wildcats will continue district action at home against William Monroe on Thursday before playing at Harrisonburg on Monday and at home against Rocktown on Tuesday, starting with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m. on all three nights.
