STILLMAN VALLEY — The Rochelle Lady Hub varsity volleyball team was forced to dig deep after dropping the first set during Thursday’s nonconference road match against Stillman Valley.

Looking for their fourth straight victory, the Lady Hubs successfully erased an early deficit in the second set before closing out the final two sets strong to upend the Cardinals 17-25, 25-23, 25-18. Rochelle (5-2) will host the 26th Annual Lady Hub Varsity Invitational at RTHS this weekend.

“Stillman Valley serves the ball really well and that’s what caught us during the first set,” head coach Molly Sly said. “We talked during our timeouts and we knew we could handle their serves. Our girls dug in as the match went on and they were able to keep more balls in the air.”

Trailing 10-7 in the second set, Rochelle rallied for seven unanswered points with junior Macy Ramos on the serve to turn the match against the Cardinals. Stillman Valley recovered with an 8-2 run of its own, however, capitalizing on back-row errors from the Lady Hubs to take an 18-16 lead and force a Rochelle timeout. Down 20-18, Rochelle leaned on senior Sylvia Hasz, who recorded six kills in the match including a crucial kill to score the final point of the second set.

The Lady Hubs used the momentum gained from evening the match to take a 13-9 lead at the start of the third set. Junior Addie Friestad ignited the Rochelle offense late in the match, totaling five of her team-leading eight kills in the third set. The Lady Hubs also received tough defense from freshman libero Dempsey Atkinson, who compiled a team-high 13 digs.

“Addie was a huge difference maker in the third set,” Sly said. “She put the ball away and she swung with confidence. That’s what I need from her during every set… I think Dempsey has a high ceiling and what we’re seeing from her right now is only the start of what she’ll do for our team. Dempsey was playing with a lot of fire and that’s what we need from our libero.”

The Cardinals inched back in the third, cutting the Rochelle lead to 16-14 and forcing a brief Lady Hub timeout. Rochelle raised its lead to 22-18 soon after, with sophomore Kennedy Adamski scoring a key kill and Stillman Valley taking a timeout after a serve landed out of bounds. The Lady Hubs scored the last three points of the match to seal the victory.

“We’ve been talking about how we need to finish our matches and that’s what we did tonight,” Sly said. “We’ve been in every match we’ve played this season, but we’ve had a few matches where we weren’t able to finish strong. Tonight’s win was a big confidence booster for us.”