Trailing 2-0, Rustburg rallies past JF

RUSTBURG — How emotional and closely contested was Thursday night’s Seminole District volleyball clash between frontrunners Rustburg and Jefferson Forest?

“It gave me a heart attack,” Red Devils middle hitter Katie Tyree said after she and her teammates overcame a two-game deficit to stage a 20-25, 23-25, 25-22, 25-18, 16-14 triumph.

With the win, Rustburg (13-3) remained undefeated in the Seminole (9-0) and all but clinched the district regular-season title and Region III bid with three matches to play.

While the Red Devils have swept most of their district competition three and out, this was the second five-game battle waged with the Cavaliers (13-5, 8-2), after Rustburg erased a 2-1 JF lead in the first match in Forest.

“The first one was close but this one was so much closer,” said Red Devils senior middle hitter Ashley Heath, who posted a match-high 20 kills, including the game-winner on Rustburg’s only match point with Shannon Glass serving. “Everything was so intense.”

Heath had her dink over the middle rejected by JF sophomore Jordan Hawkins, giving the Cavaliers their only match point. But she returned the favor, two points later, blocking a Hawkins hit for a kill that made it 15-14 Rustburg.

Tyree finished some of the match’s most pivotal points, recording 10 kills and 3 blocks.

“Katie Tyree did phenomenal tonight,” Heath said. “She put up some really big blocks and when we needed her, she was there.”

“(Tyree) really stepped up and hurt us on a lot of crucial points,” JF coach Steve Mills added.

After Kelsey Stapleton’s short spike from the middle landed inside the right sideline and gave the Cavaliers a 17-16 lead in the fourth game, Tyree responded with an emphatic kill to re-tie it. Michelle Heath’s point-blank block of a Stapleton hit fell inside the back right corner of JF’s court to put Rustburg up 19-17 before Tyree finished a quick set by Frances Booth (43 assists) for a spike kill. She later landed a stuff block for a 24-18 advantage.

“Katie Tyree had an amazing night,” Red Devils coach Kristen Hardie said. “It was a great comeback. I’m very proud of the girls. In the first two games, we made a lot of unforced errors and the girls realized it and did a much better job in the last three.”

She said freshman Michelle Heath, who finished with 12 kills, exemplified that turnaround.

“Michelle had a couple of unforced errors, but she tipped the ball in the middle a lot and then she started swinging away again,” Hardie said. “Everybody expects big hits from her and when she comes up and tips it, they’re not ready for it.”

Mills said the Cavaliers may have gotten complacent with a two-game edge, and lost some of their killer instinct. In the end, Rustburg had a little bit more hustle and heart playing on its home court.

“We knew they weren’t going to die off,” he said. “They’re a hard-hitting, aggressive team. They picked up a few more balls in the holes than we did and they got a few more dinks (down) than we did. They could have folded after that second game, but they played hard and they fought back.”