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BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Darah Strasser Rylee Clevenger Mia Howdeshell Audrey Bolinger
WABASH — The painful process of building the Rochester volleyball program back to its former glory will move on to next year.
The Lady Zs had a 22-21 lead in Game 3 and an 11-6 lead in Game 4 against Wabash in a Class 2A, Sectional 38 quarterfinal Tuesday, but the Lady Apaches responded both times to win 25-21, 19-25, 25-22, 25-16 at Southwood High School.
Wabash improved to 22-9 and earned a spot opposite Southwood in the semifinals at 11 a.m. Saturday.
Rochester finished 9-22. They also lost in four to Wabash in their regular season meeting on Oct. 1.
This match was the final one in the careers of Bolinger, Clevenger, Howdeshell and Darah Strasser.
“I feel like these girls this year, they really fought hard,” Rochester coach Laneia Strasser said. “I feel like the mentality of the program that they’re starting to get it, that I want them to be able to go after every ball. We always say there’s two things you can control – your attitude and your effort. And I do feel like this team has come a long way.”
Rochester tied Game 3 at 21-all on a solo Darah Strasser stuff block, and Wabash called timeout.
Wabash’s Elli Hall missed long on an attack on the first point after the timeout, but Wabash won the next four points. Jillian Sailors dropped in a roll shot, Hall had a kill, Bryleigh Boggs put down a kill that the Rochester block slowed down but the Rochester back row could not keep up.
Amaya Sellers then landed an ace between two Lady Z defenders. In a span of four points, Wabash had closed Rochester’s window of opportunity.
“That was a big loss to lose that one,” coach Strasser said. “I don’t know. It’s disappointing to lose that one because I do feel like then you have the momentum, and you keep building in Set 4.”
Rochester’s Audrey Bolinger had three kills, and Rylee Clevenger mixed in an ace in a four-point span of Game 4 as Rochester built a 7-3 lead. That led to a Wabash timeout.
A Boggs kill error and a block team-up from Avarie Montel and Brailyn Hunter made it 11-6 in Game 4.
At 11-8, Rylee Clevenger slid down and turned a pass into a kill near the sideline in front of the Wabash bench.
Clevenger smiled and put her hands to her face in surprise. But Wabash followed with something that was seemingly just as surprising – a 13-0 run that turned out the lights on the Lady Zs.
A Boggs ace would tie it, and a back row kill error from Howdeshell would give Wabash a 13-12 lead.
A Sailors kill would make it 21-12. Boggs would miss a serve long, but it was 21-13.
Finding a way to pass Boggs’ serves became a struggle.
“On a scale of one to three with three being great, I would say we were probably about a two for the first three sets,” coach Strasser said. “Fourth set, about halfway through, we decided to go about a point-five on our passing. You know, I’ve always said that that’s where this team struggled a little bit was just serve-received and doing all the little things. And then when you do get a good pass, our hitters can’t finish, or we’re stuck with our hands not ready on a block, and it falls down short. That was huge in their Set 1 was that Boggs was effective on that tip to the net. We talked about it. We planned for it. We just didn’t cover great in the first set, and then I think we finally adjusted to those kinds of things, and then in the fourth set, (we) fell apart on serve-received.”
Rochester has won 22 sectional titles in its history, including 10 in the class era. They have not won one since 2020, and this will equal their longest sectional drought in the class era.
“As a whole for the program, I’m excited,” coach Strasser said. “Year one’s always hard. Year two, I said it’d kind of like my analogy is I love flowers. The first year you plant something, it sleeps. The second year, it creeps, and the third year, it leaps. And that’s kind of my mentality with it. You saw us creep this year. We got better at a lot of other things. Serve-received took us out almost all last year. We had moments this year where it took us out, but as a whole, I feel like a lot of things have gotten better.”
Senior Lillee Lett did not play and was not in attendance. Asked about Lett after the match, coach Strasser declined comment.
