Hannah Doss picked an opportune time to have the best match of her career.

The Patrick Henry High School sophomore slammed down 17 kills on Monday night as the Rebels cruised to a 25-15, 25-17, 25-18 victory over Fort Chiswell in the first round of the Region C, Division 2 volleyball tournament.

PH (20-4) will play Auburn on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the regional semifinals at Glenvar High School.

It was another history-making night for Patrick Henry.

The Rebels reached the 20-victory mark and won what was believed to be the first regional tourney match in program history.

"I don’t think they understood the significance of tonight’s [match]," said PH coach Beth Matlock Austin. "They understood it was a regional [match]. I’m lucky to have girls that they’ve been in this spot in basketball and softball last year. For the nerves of a regional game, they’ve been here at least once."

Doss certainly wasn’t bothered by the magnitude or historical implications of the showdown.

"We were more excited and more confident than we were nervous," Doss said.

The athletic 5-foot-8 outside hitter has emerged as a dangerous front row threat for the Rebels.

"She came on tonight," Austin said. "It helps a lot having these older mentors. Every day in practice they are all working hard and working together. Tonight, Hannah came out on fire."

Kasey Uecker, who dished out a team-high 17 assists, was among those impressed with the performance of Doss.

"She was doing great tonight," Uecker said. "I hope she keeps playing that way."

Patrick Henry actually fell behind 4-1 in both the first and second games, but those deficits were easily erased. In what has been a prevailing theme all season, Patrick Henry just overpowered the opposition with its wide array of hitters.

Kelsey Weddle (15 kills) and Cadence Wilmoth (nine kills) played well. Fort Chiswell coach Danielle Eversole pointed out the play of Weddle particularly as one of the tough tasks for her team.

"Kelsey’s very consistent," Eversole said. "She’s going to hit corners on us and that’s what we kind of worked on. When we went to the corners she tipped on us. They are a very solid ballclub. … It’s one of those you can go home and say we lost to a good volleyball team. Our girls played well, but they played great volleyball."

Megan Cleary (16 assists) starred as well for Patrick Henry, which did struggle at the service line during stretches of Monday’s match. However, the Rebels more than made up for that and continued the best season in school history.

"We’re super excited," Uecker said. "Nobody in school history’s done this, so we’re doing really good."

Perennial Three Rivers District heavyweight Auburn (20-6) awaits the Rebels on Wednesday.

"Auburn’s a very, very good team," Austin said. "We’ve got a lot to work on in practice [Tuesday]. But if you’re going to go to regions, you might as well play the good teams."

Meanwhile, Doss was beaming after her shining performance. A performance she really didn’t have an explanation for.

"I don’t know where it came from," Doss said. "It came from somewhere and it felt really good."

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | Twitter: Hayes_BHCSports | (276) 645-2570