Nansemond-Suffolk Academy girls’ volleyball coach Robyn Ross wanted to make something clear to her team of short players by entering it into the 2015 Virginia Volleyball Showcase this past weekend at the Richmond Volleyball Club.

“They need to see what I see,” she said. “They started off the weekend kind of slow and timid, but after they took a set off of a couple of really big schools, they started to get it and started to see that it doesn’t matter that the tallest (NSA) girl is 5-foot-7. What matters is that they play like they’re 6-foot-5.”

The showcase was composed largely of public school teams, and it had two divisions. The red division featured the 18 best teams in the showcase.

The Lady Saints had never competed in this event before, but coaches were required to send in a write-up, giving an assessment of their team’s ability. Ross said she wrote that she could not imagine her team not being in the top 18.

So NSA was put in the red division, the only private school to make that cut.

Every team the Lady Saints played had several six-footers or taller, but the local girls experienced some success against everyone, taking at least a set from all five teams they faced.

Nansemond-Suffolk ended up going 2-3 over the course of the two-day showcase, but Ross noted the record does not paint the right picture. The Lady Saints made every match close.

“Nobody knew who we were on Friday, but lots of people were talking about them by Saturday and had figured out who they were and where they were from and took notice of how well they played,” Ross said.

NSA started off in pool play against Atlee High School, falling 28-26, 14-25, 23-25. Then the local girls faced Madison High School, losing 11-25, 25-23, 16-25.

Atlee was the Virginia High School League Group 5A state champion in 2013.

The Lady Saints’ first win during the showcase came against Osbourn Park High School — 25-15, 25-19, 22-25.

Until Saturday’s championship matches, all matches were required to consist of three sets.

After pool play, the six best red division teams went to the gold bracket, the next best group of six went to the silver bracket and the final six went to the bronze bracket.

Atlee and Nansemond-Suffolk were tied for making the silver bracket with an equal number of sets won, but because the Lady Raiders had scored a couple more points, the Lady Saints went bronze.

They began Saturday by defeating James River High School 20-25, 25-19, 25-19. In the bronze championship match, deciding 13th and 14th place, Westfield High School achieved a hard-fought win against NSA — 18-25, 32-30, 15-11.

Ross moved junior outside hitter Logan Harrell to libero during the showcase because she was noticing the Lady Saints were losing more points on defensive errors in the back row than they were gaining with kills from Harrell in the front row.

“Putting Logan as the libero meant that I would always have either Logan and Lindsay (Knierbein) or Logan and Livi (Bono) as a solid back row duo, and it really did calm down the chaos in the back row,” Ross said.

In the bronze title match, junior outside hitter Livi Bono had her first 20-kill match, and Harrell had 22 digs.

For the weekend overall, Bono recorded 65 kills and 41 digs, Harrell had 63 digs, 12 aces and 28 points on serve, and junior outside hitter Lindsay Knierbein was second on the team with 35 kills and 42 digs and first with 13 aces and 36 points on serve.

Nansemond-Suffolk (6-3) defeated host Norfolk Academy 25-21, 25-8, 25-15 on Tuesday and hosts St. John’s College High School on Friday.