Joslyn Rockey sets Lynchburg-Clay school record in digs; Lady Mustangs defeat Ripley and West Union

DODSONVILLE — In their past two matches, the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs played against Southern Hills Athletic Conference opponents, and in the match on Friday evening it was senior Joslyn Rockey setting a new school record in digs. 

Rockey has over 1,000 career digs in her career at LCHS — a milestone set earlier this season — and against West Union on Friday evening, she stood alone at the top of the all-time digs list in Lady Mustangs history.

The previous record holder at LCHS was Ashley Ernst, a 2021 graduate in 2021. Ernst’s digs record was 1,166. Rockey currently has 1,186 digs thus far in her career. 

In their win on Friday (Sept. 19), the Lady Mustangs won in four sets, as WUHS won set one at 25-15, but from there it was all LCHS with wins of 25-14, 25-18 and 25-17. 

Rockey finished the match with 21 digs, plus she added one assist. Addy Carraher finished with three kills, five assists and seven digs in the win. 

Halle Greene totaled nine kills, one assist, two aces and 17 digs in the victory over the Lady Dragons. The home win also saw Matalyn Magee finish with seven kills, two aces, five digs and one block. 

Ava McLaughlin chipped in with a team-best 18 assists, and she was tied for the lead in aces with three. Kylie O’Connor totaled a team-high 13 kills, and she had a team-best three blocks, plus she added three digs. Avery Shope totaled two kills and 11 digs. Melany Stephenson ended the match with three kills, nine assists, tied for the lead in aces with three and 15 digs. Jules Vesey totaled four digs in the victory. 

As a team, Lynchburg-Clay totaled 37 kills, 34 assists, 10 aces, 83 digs and four blocks. 

The previous evening at LCHS, the Lady Mustangs defeated the visiting Ripley Lady Blue Jays in three sets at 25-20, 25-11 and 25-12 for the SHAC win. 

“We run a five-one, and our main setter is hurt right now, so now we are running the six-two. We have two girls (Carraher and Stephenson) who have set clear up to this year, so it’s not that it is brand new to them, they are just a little bit rusty, but they are doing a great job of coming in,” LCHS head coach Janelle Rockey said. “I feel we would have dominated more in the first set, but we are still working out some things in our new coverage. 

“It is good to get a conference win, and Ripley was playing without a few of their players too, so they had girls in new spots as well. For us, all of the girls on my team except for our main setter who is injured right now have played multiple positions. I started coaching these girls in middle school and have moved up with them in high school, so having to switch out and change positions, and have a new role on the team, they are very good and have the experience somewhere down the line. This summer we did a lot of rotations, planning for ‘what happens if’ type of things, so I feel like they are really prepared.” 

The first set was the closest with the score being tied four times from 1-1 up to 8-8, but LCHS regained the lead at 9-8 when Ripley served the ball on their own side of the net, and from that point on it was LCHS in the lead. 

LCHS increased their lead to 10-8 with a point by Stephenson, and later an ace by Carraher and a point from Magee left LCHS in front 13-9. 

From there, a point by Greene and an ace off a serve by Shope increased the Lady Mustangs’ lead to 15-10. LCHS took an 18-11 lead with a point at the net by O’Connor, and as the first set continued to be paced by Lynchburg-Clay, their lead jumped to 23-18 when Magee added a point off a hit. 

The first set ended with back-to-back points scored by Greene for the five-point win at 25-20. 

The second set began with some close scores as Ripley held a lead until LCHS tied the score at 5-5, and once the home team Lady Mustangs took a 6-5 lead off a serve by Stephenson, followed by a kill from Carraher, LCHS never relinquished the lead for the remainder of the second set. 

LCHS built their advantage with points from O’Connor, Greene and Shope, as at that time of the set it was Lynchburg-Clay leading 15-9. The score went to 18-10 when Magee served an ace to Ripley, and eventually it was LCHS having Greene end the set again with back-to-back points scored for a 25-11 win. 

Other than very early in the third set, Lynchburg-Clay held the lead, as they once held an 11-3 lead, and later that lead went to 10 points at 20-10. Eventually, LCHS outscored Ripley 5-2 in the final part of the third set to claim the set and match win at 25-12 (set) and 3-0 (match). 

Stephenson totaled four kills, 14 assists, four aces and a team-high 16 digs. Carraher totaled seven kills, 16 assists (the team high), two aces and 14 digs. Also for LCHS, Magee ended the contest with four kills, two assists and one ace. 

There was also O’Connor for the Lady Mustangs, and against Ripley she finished with 12 kills, three digs and two blocks. Rockey finished the match with four assists, two aces and nine digs. Shope had two kills, four aces and nine digs. Vesey finished with one dig in the LCHS win. 

Following those two games, LCHS now stands at 7-1 in the SHAC for second place (North Adams leads) and 9-4 overall. 

Next for LCHS is an away SHAC match against North Adams (9-0, 10-4) at 6:15 p.m. 

“I’m happy where we are right now,” Rockey said. “We have one league loss, and our other losses were ones where two of them were five-set losses. No loss is a good loss, but if we are competitive for five sets, those losses we can take. I appreciate the drive the girls have.”