Streaks Stymie Wildcats

Streaks Stymie Wildcats RC Netters Drop Final Regular-Season Match

The Rockbridge County High School volleyball team suffered a 3-1 home loss to Valley District rival Harrisonburg in the final match of the regular season on Tuesday of last week.

With the 25-23, 21-25, 26-24, 25-20 win, the Blue Streaks (11-8 overall, 7-7 district) avenged a 3-1 loss to the Wildcats (10-10, 9-5) on Sept. 23 in Harrisonburg.

The Wildcats clinched a spot in the Region 3C tournament as the 11th seed and were scheduled to play at sixthseeded Western Albemarle on Monday night. See a separate story for the result, and visit www.thenews-gazette.com for postseason updates.

In the first set of last Tuesday’s match, Harrisonburg jumped out to a 13-8 lead, but the Wildcats gradually came back and took a 23-22 lead on a kill by Jada Hamilton. The Blue Streaks then responded with a kill and won the next two points to take the set.

The Wildcats trailed early in the second set before taking a 13-12 lead and stayed ahead the rest of the way with strong serving and net play.

In the third set, the Blue Streaks capitalized on RC errors to build up an 18-10 lead. The Wildcats then battled back, with Hamilton, Geneva Snyder and Mackenzie Mc-Cormick each making a pair of kills to help the Wildcats take a 24-22 lead. However, Harrisonburg responded well, with a kill by Nora Von Rotz, and three RC errors resulted in the Blue Streaks taking the set.

Harrisonburg carried the momentum into the fourth set, jumping out to a 7-0 lead. The Wildcats again battled back, tying it at 16-16, but the Blue Streaks won the next three points and pulled away with strong serving and net play.

Reviewing the match, RC head coach Gabe Wagner said, “Harrisonburg’s a good team. We struggled at the beginning of sets and allowed ourselves to get down and have to fight back, rather than getting out in front.”

“If we just don’t get in those ruts, it’s different,” he added.

Before the match, the Wildcats honored their lone senior, libero Rebekah Allen, who led all players with 25 digs. “Bekah’s awesome,” said Wagner. “She’s just got a naturally kind spirit that allows her to push her teammates in kind of a different way than most people. … We’re gonna miss her a lot next year.”

Hamilton paced the Wildcats with 16 kills and added 19 digs and three aces, while Maisen Mckemy led all players with 44 assists and had 10 digs, six blocks and three aces. Snyder added nine kills, six digs, three aces and three blocks, and Mc-Cormick had eight kills, four digs and four blocks. Also stepping up were Ava Crocker with 21 digs, Anna Nye with eight kills and five digs and Hayley Higgins with eight digs.

Von Rotz led the Blue Streaks with 16 kills and had 17 digs and two blocks, while Macy Waid dished out 29 assists. Maren Bert had nine kills, 18 digs and five aces, Teagan Miller collected 16 digs, Aubree Ringwald had 15 digs, and Brynn Smith chipped in two blocks.