Giants sweep Wilson

Even while dealing with multiple injuries and illness, Waynesboro cruised past Wilson Memorial, winning in just three games 25-9, 25-21, 25-20 on Thursday.

“It’s tough when you play games like this, low intensity games, where you have to bring your own momentum,” Waynesboro coach Lori Aleshire said. “We have some injuries and one girl is out sick, so other players had to step up.”

The Little Giants have only two Southern Valley District match left on the schedule and are currently tied with Draft for second in the district.

The Hornets came out in Game 1 with little to offer and the Little Giants easily swept past them with hard kills coming from all around the board.

“We were just on top in Game 1,” said Aleshire. “Everything clicked: serves, hits, passes. They [Wilson] made a lot of mental mistakes.”

Game 2 was a different story as Wilson finally put up a fight at the net. The Hornets gained the lead quickly but it was short lived as kills from Waynesboro’s Rachel Binda combined with her three back-to-back aces swiftly overcame the Hornets.

Wilson wasn’t out for the count just yet though. The Hornets fought their way back to tie the game at 14, 15 and 16 thanks to solid shots from their own Morgan Tolbert, but three continuous shots into the net gave the lead back to the Little Giants. Kills from Binda and Katie Doyle increased the lead and Waynesboro ended the game with a kill from Jolie Dudley.

“We have some injuries, that includes me,” said Waynesboro’s Binda. “We had some different rotations going on, one’s we’re not used to with different people.”

Game 3 played out similar to the previous with the score seesawing between the teams until Waynesboro took the lead at 9-8 and never gave it up. The Little Giants got stuck at 20, allowing the Hornets to slowly creep their way back up with Kayley Argenbright leading the way with two kills and a sneaky tip, putting the Hornets behind by only two.

“They [Wilson] played better than the last time we saw them,” said Binda. “So they’ve improved.”

Again, however, Wilson was its own enemy as numerous shots went into the net and a net violation kept Waynesboro ahead. An ace from Doyle followed by a bad pass from Wilson ended the third and final game.

“Lee’s going to be a game that we’re focused on for next week but it’s really Fort that we’re looking forward to,” said Binda. “Fort’s our last district game.”

Waynesboro travels to Robert E. Lee on Tuesday while Wilson hosts Rockbridge the same night.