BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – La Roche volleyball traveled to Geneva on Wednesday night for a non-conference matchup and with their backs against the wall, down 2-1, the Redhawks battled back to take a thrilling 3-2 victory over the Golden Tornadoes.
Set one was all Geneva, jumping ahead, 13-6 just shy of the midway point, helping itself cruise to a 25-14 opening set victory to go ahead, 1-0.
La Roche again fell behind early in set two, 10-5 and as the set went on, still saw itself behind, 18-12.
The Redhawks then fired back with an 8-1 run to takeover the lead, 20-19. After the Golden Tornadoes tied the set at 20-20, La Roche took five of the final six points, ending the set on an overall run of 13-3, winning 25-21 to tie the match at 1-1.
Geneva took the set two loss to heart and stormed out to a 13-3 lead in the third set.
Still trailing 18-10 past the midway point marker, the Redhawks again crawled back in, scoring 10 of the next 13 to cut the deficit down to just 21-20.
The Golden Tornadoes wouldn't allow a full comeback in set three, scoring the final four points to close the set at 25-20 and take a 2-1 match lead.
After not sealing the comeback in set three, La Roche dominated set four to force a fifth set.
The Redhawks rolled in the opening stages, blasting Geneva to the tune of an 8-1 lead to open set four and after a brief cut in the deficit by the Golden Tornadoes to 8-4, La Roche peppered Geneva, scoring 12 of the next 15 points to open a 20-7 lead and cruise to a 25-11 victory to even the match at 2-2.
Carrying the momentum into the deciding fifth set, the Redhawks opened an 8-5 lead at the flip and after a brief two point spurt to make it 8-7 by the Golden Tornadoes, La Roche followed with a four spot of its own to charge ahead, 11-7.
Geneva gave one last push, scoring seven of the next 10 points to even the score, 14-14, forcing extra points in the final set, but the Redhawks reaped the benefit of a pair of Golden Tornadoes errors to seal the comeback victory, 16-14.
For the Redhawks, Kalli Grine led the offense matching her career-high with 18 kills, hitting a stellar .366 on the night, while Estelle Winck led the setters with 26 assists, followed by 14 from Riley Lewis.
On the defensive side, three players finished in double figures for digs, led by Kaci DePalma who established her career-high with 33, while Megan Bologna provided 22 and Mackenzie Myers added another 17. At the net, the Redhawks picked up 14 block assists on the night, led by Ava Fox with four.
La Roche concludes its week of play at home on Saturday, Sept. 20 when they play host to Carlow in a non-conference matchup. Opening serve is slated for 1 p.m.