Led by Chloe Pusha’s 10 kills, the Northside Vikings defeated the ‘Cats volleyball team in straight sets on Thursday night, October 20. Rockbridge dropped to 8-10 on the season, and 3-4 in conference play, while Northside improved to 20-4 overall and 6-2 in the conference.

The ‘Cats began the game with a quick start as they took an early lead against the Vikings in the first set, 8-3. However, the Vikings battled back capitalizing on multiple mistakes made by Rockbridge. The Vikings were able to gain the lead late in the set, and propelled themselves to eventually take the set, 25-20.

The Vikings’ momentum from the first set carried into the second set as they opened up to an early 4-0 lead. Northside continued their success in the rest of the set by taking advantage of several ‘Cats communication errors, taking a 15-4 advantage. The ‘Cats were never able to completely recover from the slow start in the second set and ultimately fell 25-8 in the set.

In the third set, the ‘Cats looked to claw their way back into the game by scoring the first two points of the set. The comeback effort was soon derailed by the Vikings, as Northside went on a 7-0 scoring streak to build a strong lead, and eventually win the set 25-15.

“Northside is a very good team, and yes we did play kind of well, but in the last two sets we kind of lost it,” said ‘Cats junior Keely Doyle. “In the first set we had really good services and passes in general, and our offense was pretty good.”

Rockbridge will travel to Staunton River High School on Tuesday October 25 for their second to last matchup of the regular season. The match is set to begin at 7:00 p.m. The ‘Cats will need to win both of their final two matches to finish with a .500 record.