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Strasser laments passing woes in loss to Northfield
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Maconaquah def. Rochester, 25-14, 25-20, 25-16
BUNKER HILL — The Rochester volleyball team went on a 13-2 run during the second set of its road match against Maconaquah Tuesday.
More consistent play along these lines remains elusive, however, as Maconaquah rolled to a 25-14, 25-20, 25-16 win.
Rochester trailed 13-6 in Set 2 when they embarked on their run. Katelyn Greis missed on a serve, and Mia Howdeshell took over serving.
Averie Maiben flubbed a set, and then Maconaquah committed a ding dong after a dig. Ireland Kile put a kill attempt into the net, and Emma Zeiser’s kill try hit the antenna. An Audrey Bolinger kill off the block made it 13-12, and a Howdeshell service winner tied it. After Maconaquah was called for a double-contact, Maconaquah coach Jason Watson called timeout.
A Bolinger net violation and a Kile stuff block tied it, but Aubrey Kaiser served into the net, and Aubrey Wilson answered with an ace for Rochester.
A Kile kill error and a Wilson service winner gave Rochester a 19-15 lead.
Maconaquah senior Alyssa Birner, effective from the outside all night, put down a roll shot. Bolinger attacked out of the middle and into the net.
And then Maconaquah sophomore Delaney Betzner took over behind the line. She had a service winner and an ace. The set was again tied at 19.
“She had a lot on it,” Rochester coach Laneia Strasser said of Betzner’s serve. “It was a hard serve. It was close to the net. She kind of served straight down the middle. Our girls have a harder time reading that, I think. She was a good server. We couldn’t pass her for some reason. … That was definitely their strongest rotation. Couldn’t capitalize when they weren’t in that rotation either.”
Strasser called a timeout, but the Lady Brave momentum did not cease. Kile had a kill out of the middle, Rochester’s Ella Hake put a free ball into the net, and Birner had a tip and then a kill.
Coach Strasser used her second timeout, but another Birner kill off the fingertips of the Rochester block made it 24-19. Birner put a kill into the net on the first set point, but a Kile tip off the block ended the set.
“I would say passing, digging, hitting,” Strasser said. “They just weren’t there that set. They weren’t there the first set. They weren’t there the third set.”
Maconaquah jumped out to a 6-1 lead with Betzner serving in Set 3, and after Rochester hung within 12-10, another blitz of serves from Betzner highlighted an 11-2 run as the lead reached 23-12.
A Darah Strasser service winner and ace highlighted a 4-0 run before a service winner and a Zeiser kill ended the match.
Rochester was within 13-12 in Set 1 before Maconaquah went on a 10-1 run to go up 23-13.
Coach Strasser would eventually give freshman Madeline Bailon playing time in the back row in the second set. Her entering the match coincided with the Lady Zs’ best run.
“She’s a kid that goes for everything,” coach Strasser said. “I need somebody that’s relentless, and she’s going to go out there and not think and go pass the ball, and she did her job. … We’re always looking for somebody that’s just going to go out there and pass the ball and do their job. That’s what we needed the past few games, and she did. I don’t have time to shank four or five balls. We have to get past that. We cannot get behind four or five points at a time and then six and then seven and then eight. So I have to switch it up, and Maddy did a good job tonight.”
Rochester is 5-13 overall and 1-5 in the TRC. They host Northwestern at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Northfield def. Rochester, 25-13, 26-24, 25-8
WABASH — Audrey Bolinger had 10 kills, a block, four points and an ace, but the Rochester volleyball team lost to Northfield 25-13, 26-24, 25-8 in a TRC road match Thursday.
Avarie Montel had four kills, and Aubrey Wilson had five points, 15 assists and 10 digs. Logyn Honkomp had four points, including an ace.
Ella Hake had a block. Mia Howdeshell had nine digs and 13 serves received. Honkomp had seven digs and 10 serves received.
Northfield had a 17-2 edge in aces.
“The tip game killed us tonight, and our serve-receive killed us tonight,” coach Laneia Strasser said. “We couldn’t pass the ball if our lives depended on it. We’ve gone backwards as far as serve-receive. I felt like we had overcome that. We work on it all the time, and we could not pass the ball. They’d put it short, and we wouldn’t react short. They’d put it deep, and we wouldn’t back up deep. If you can’t pass the ball, you can’t do anything else. That was the problem tonight.”
Rochester had two set points at 24-22 in the second set before Northfield scored the last four points.
A poor pass on the second set point evened it at 24 and another poor pass gave Northfield a set point. A Claire Brainard tip off the net ended the set.
Northfield led 7-2 at one point in the second set before the inspired Lady Zs went on a 16-6 run. Aces from Bolinger and Honkomp and a kill from Amara Wieringa tied it at 9.
Northfield was called for a lift after a Bolinger block to put Rochester ahead 12-11, and Bolinger followed with a tip. A service winner from Bolinger and a Montel putaway after an overpass made it 18-13.
Rochester’s block was more impactful, and coach Strasser said the passing was better.
“I feel like we were lined up even more height-wise in Set 2 when I had Amara in Darah’s rotation,” coach Strasser said when asked about the successful block. “So I guess that’s maybe the difference in Sets 1 and 3 versus 2 is that Amara was in that spot. But I had to make a decision on Ella. Ella wasn’t getting it done, so I needed to switch that one up, so I stuck Amara in that spot. … I felt like in Set 2, we were just quicker to the ball. We weren’t in chaos as much because our passes weren’t so out of control, and that makes your whole offense not have to work as hard, so our blockers can work as hard when we actually can get it past the target.”
Coach Strasser later said that “99.9 percent” of the team’s issues are mental. Strasser was asked about the level of competition Rochester has recently faced, including Southwood, Harrison (West Lafayette), Pioneer, Covington and Manchester.
“That’s tough because our conference has some really good competition,” coach Strasser said. “We play a tough schedule, and we’re in the thick of our tough schedule, but we can’t go backwards, and I feel like that’s what we’ve done this week. Just because you’re playing better competition doesn’t mean you have to forget how to serve-receive.
“It’s tough. It’s tough to lose, lose, lose. It’s tough on the girls. It’s tough on the staff. But it’s more heartbreaking for the girls. Because you know that they do try. They’re showing up everyday. They’re working hard, and it’s just not coming right now.”
Northfield def. Rochester, 25-13, 26-24, 25-8
ROCHESTER STATS
Ella Hake – 1 kill, 1 block, 1 dig; Darah Strasser – 1 kill, 4 digs, 7 serves received; Avarie Montel – 5 kills; Amara Wieringa – 3 kills, 1 dig, 1 serve received; Audrey Bolinger – 10 kills, 1 ace, 1 block, 1 dig, 1 serve received; Logyn Honkomp – 1 ace, 7 digs, 1 assist, 10 serves received; Rylee Clevenger – 4 digs, 8 serves received; Aubrey Wilson – 10 digs, 15 assists, 1 serve received; Mia Howdeshell – 9 digs, 13 serves received; Brailyn Hunter – 1 dig, 2 serves received; Rilyn Strasser – 1 serve received
