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Making a late comeback in the fourth set, the Rockbridge County High School volleyball team earned a 3-1 home win over William Monroe for its first Valley District victory of the season on Thursday night in Lexington.
The Wildcats (2-6 overall, 1-2 district) trailed 23-21 in the fourth set, but they won five of the final six points to seal the 25-17, 22-25, 25-16, 26-24 victory.
Missing four players due to injuries, RC jumped out to an 11-5 lead in the first set before the Dragons (2-6, 0-4) came back to tie it 14-14, but the Wildcats used strong serving and net play to pull away.
The Wildcats raced to a 6-0 lead in the second set and led 21-16, but WM attacked the net and battled back, capitalizing on RC errors and finishing the set on a 9-1 run.
The third set was close early on before the Wildcats built up an 18-10 lead and made several kills to pull away.
In the fourth set, the Dragons jumped out to a 10-3 lead and were up 17-10 before the Wildcats started battling back. With strong serving by Maisen Mckemy, RC cut the lead to 19-17. Down 23-21, the Wildcats got a kill each from sophomores Geneva Snyder and Tadara Cooper, seeing her first varsity action. The Dragons scored one more point on an RC error, but the Wildcats won the final two points on WM errors.
Mackenzie McCormick led the Wildcats with 15 kills added 13 digs and two blocks, while Mckemy dished out a team-high 40 assists and had nine digs and four aces. Rebekah Allen paced RC with 26 digs and served up two aces, while Snyder led the Wildcats with five aces and recorded 12 kills and 10 digs. Jada Hamilton had 25 digs, eight kills and two aces. Cooper chipped in six kills and four digs, and Hayley Higgins collected five digs.
The Wildcats will continue district play at Harrisonburg on Monday before playing host to new district rival Rocktown on Tuesday, starting with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m. on both nights.
For the full story and photos from Thursday’s win, please see our Sept. 25 newspaper.
