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In a marathon high school volleyball match, Rockbridge County fended off a comeback to earn a 3-2 home win over Valley District rival Turner Ashby on Thursday night in Lexington.
Playing in front of a spirited crowd, the Wildcats (7-8 overall, 6-3 district) bounced back from a pair of losses to end the week on a high note, defeating the Knights 27-25, 25-21, 23-25, 23-25, 15-11 in a contest that lasted more than two hours.
TA (12-6, 7-3) led 10-4 in the first set, but the Wildcats gradually battled back, making kills at the net and serving well, ending the set with an ace from Rebekah Allen.
The Knights led 14-9 in the second set, but RC fought back again. Down 20-17, the Wildcats won the next seven points, six on Geneva Snyder’s serve. TA scored on a kill by Bella Schultz, but RC won on a missed serve by TA.
The third set was close the whole way, with the Knights going ahead late. RC put away two sets before the Knights won the set on an RC error. The fourth set was similar, with TA going ahead at the end.
In the final set, TA took a 4-3 lead, but a kill by RC’s Mackenzie McCormick started a 4-0 run that put RC up 7-4. The Wildcats stayed ahead the rest of the way, and Jada Hamilton ended the match with a kill.
Hamilton led the Wildcats with 25 kills and 26 digs and had three aces and two blocks. Maisen Mckemy dished out 41 assists to lead RC while collecting 11 digs and serving up three aces. Allen recorded 18 digs and had five assists and two aces, while Snyder contributed 14 kills and two aces. Also stepping up for the Wildcats were Hayley Higgins with 13 digs, Tadara Cooper with 11 digs on her 16th birthday, Anna Nye with eight digs, Adrianna Grue with six digs, and McCormick with six kills.
The Wildcats will continue district action when they travel to Stanardsville to take on William Monroe on Tuesday, starting with the junior varsity match at 5:30 p.m.
For the full story on this week’s action, with photos from Thursday’s match, please see our Oct. 16 newspaper.
