Roberts Wesleyan senior libero entered her final college volleyball match needing seven digs to reach 1,000 in her career and everyone on her team knew it.
With the second set tied 1-1 and at six digs during the first set, Holmes reacted defensively and thought she might have finally reached the mark, but asked her bench, “does that count?” It did and the ball was taken out of play as a keepsake for the California native.
“I set a goal at the beginning of the season when I knew I was going to be the libero that I wanted 1,000 and me and my team have been counting all year so it’s really exciting to finally get it in my last game,” Holmes said.
“It wasn’t the greatest dig, but I’ll take it. It’s been one of the funnest years team wise. We didn’t have a lot of drama and the team is really close, so traveling all season has been really fun and I’m glad that I got to meet everyone and have this experience.”
Roberts fell 25-22, 26-24, 25-16, but battled through every set.
In the first they led 16-12 after a run led by senior Anastacia Smith’s kill and two blocks for points along with a block and kill from freshman Lauren Norwood before the Wildcats retied the set and took the lead with a 7-0 run.
The Redhawks battled back from as many as ten points down in the second set to take a 21-20 lead, but managed just an ace by Holmes over the final eight points.
Holmes completed the match with 16 digs while junior Emily Rowlinson led the squad with 12 assists and five kills while adding six digs. Smith was second with four kills.
Holmes, Smith and Kathryn Krchniak were honored prior to their final collegiate contest as Roberts finished 2-22, 2-8 in East Coast Conference play.
“They have been battling all season long; there have been stretches of just amazing volleyball and then stretches of not-so-amazing volleyball, but it all comes down to correcting errors,” Redhawks head coach Doug Porterfield said. “But the character of the girls has been phenomenal this year. They have fought hard; they’ve not given up … and they are all working every day in practice to get better in the games and what more can a coach ask for?”
