Waynesboro picks up big district win

Waynesboro guaranteed that it would not have another losing season in the Southern Valley District on Thursday night, defeating Rockbridge County in four games.

The Little Giants won the match 25-22, 15-25, 25-23, 25-19 and improved their record to 4-2 in the district. Waynesboro’s remaining district foes are R.E. Lee and Fort Defiance. Waynesboro will travel to Lee on Tuesday.

“It’s a great district win,” said Waynesboro coach Lori Aleshire. “You can’t be unhappy with a win.”

Strong play at the net kept Waynesboro consistent for most of the match, with Haley Quesenbery contributing 12 kills and Taylor DeWitt and Rachel Binda each chipping in with seven kills.

“Tonight was all about execution. Basically that’s what we practiced,” Quesenbery said.

Waynesboro trailed for most of Game 1, but fought back to tie the game at 19. For most of the season the Little Giants have struggled while trailing. A Quesenbery kill knotted the game, but the Giants were unable to capitalize and pull away.

“I thought Haley did a great job outside,” Aleshire said. “Heather Sutton stepped in for Jolie [Dudley] — she had a little injury — but I thought it was a great team effort.”

Rockbridge tied the game at 22 with a Kayren Powell ace, but her next serve floated out-of-bounds to give the lead back to the Little Giants. Sutton took the opportunity to surprise the Wildcats with a block to set up the game point and a Rockbridge carry ended the game.

Waynesboro wasn’t able to keep the momentum going in game two, losing by 10 points, but withstood the pressure in Game 3 to pull out a close win.

Waynesboro took a 21-16 lead in the third game, but a serve into the net and a Hannah Patterson ace started a 6-1 Rockbridge rally that tied the game at 22.

Waynesboro allowed the Wildcats to score one more point before putting the game away with a Binda kill.

“We got out passes of the net so we could be more aggressive,” Quesenbery said about the change the Little Giants made between games.

In the final game, Waynesboro took the lead from the first serve and held it.

Binda ended the match, sneaking a dink over the net.

Waynesboro (7-9, 4-2) has one more match at home before the postseason begins on Thursday against Broadway.