.png)
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
The Manchester volleyball team continues to improve, and host Rochester did not impede their progress Tuesday.
Rochester closed out the first set with a strong run, but Manchester relied on their junior core of Elizabeth Renz, Ava Felgar, Peyton Ream, Hadley West and Myla Crozier to claim a 22-25, 25-21, 25-16, 25-19 win at the RHS gym Tuesday.
Renz had 16 kills, and Felgar had 12. Felgar and Lauryn Reichenbach had four blocks each. Marley Bellinger had 15 digs and 22 serves received, and Crozier added 13 digs and 20 serves received.
Audrey Bolinger had 16 kills, six blocks and three aces for Rochester. Brailyn Hunter had seven, and Ella Hake and Darah Strasser had six each. Hake and Aubrey Wilson had two blocks each.
Mia Howdeshell had 30 digs and 40 serves received, and Rylee Clevenger had 10 digs and 15 serves received. Logyn Honkomp had 13 serves received.
Wilson had 36 assists.
The highlight for the Lady Zs might have been the final three points of Game 1. At 22-all, Ream was called for a net violation to end a long rally. Then Ream was called for a double hit after Wilson went to the seat of her pants to keep an attack from Renz off the floor. A Brailyn Hunter kill with help from a misplayed attempted set from Ream closed the set.
The second set was tied 17-all before Manchester went on a 7-2 run. A net violation on Audrey Bolinger ended the set.
“Definitely Set 2,” Rochester coach Laneia Strasser said. “We started to play predictable. We started to play timid. We had way too many net violations, too many small errors tonight. And I would say it all started in Set 2. And then in Set 3 and Set 4, we just played to not lose instead of playing to win.”
Rochester led 6-3 in Game 3 and 7-4 in Game 4 before Manchester rallied both times.
“It’s the mental side of the game that we’ve talked about with the girls a bunch,” Strasser said. “You can’t play in fear of making a mistake. You just have to do the things that you practiced. You have to swing hard. You have to cover. You have to cover with a purpose. You’ve got to serve aggressive. We missed too many serves tonight too. That’s a hard one for me because those are easy, easy things to do, and those are hard when you miss serves and (have) net violations.”
Strasser also said her team got too shallow in its “base defense,” and Ream often capped long rallies with deep tips to the corners.
Strasser was asked about the team’s hitting errors, and she said it’s tied to the team’s fitness level.
“I don’t think at the beginning of the game – Set 1 and even Set 2, we didn’t have as many hitting errors,” Strasser said. “Set 3 and Set 4, we definitely had hitting errors. And I always blame that on you’re getting tired, and you’re doing all the small fundamentals in your hitting. You’re not getting deep enough on your approach. You’re not taking the ball out of the air as high as you can. You’re not putting enough finish on it. You can’t do the finish with all arms. You’ve got to finish with legs, and when we get tired, we have a tendency to quit doing that, which causes too many hitting errors.”
Strasser was asked if that was a factor in the team going 1-3 at the Harrison (West Lafayette) Invitational Saturday.
“Oh yeah,” she replied, later adding that the team had a “strong conditioning practice” Monday.
Manchester won nine matches in 2021, 10 matches in 2022, 14 matches last year, and they just improved to 14-2 overall and 4-0 in the TRC.
Meanwhile, Rochester is 5-11 and trying to avoid their fourth consecutive losing season since a 17-8 season and a sectional title in 2020.
Manchester won the JV match 25-14, 25-10.
Manchester def. Rochester, 22-25, 25-21, 25-16, 25-19
ROCHESTER STATS
Ella Hake – 6 kills, 2 blocks, 3 digs, 1 serve received; Darah Strasser – 6 kills, 7 digs, 1 assist, 8 serves received; Aubrey Wilson – 4 kills, 1 ace, 2 blocks, 3 digs, 36 assists, 1 serve received; Avarie Montel – 3 kills, 1 assist; Mia Howdeshell – 1 kill, 30 digs, 40 serves received, 1 assist; Brailyn Hunter – 7 kills, 6 digs, 2 serves received; Amara Wieringa – 1 kill, 2 digs; Audrey Bolinger – 16 kills, 3 aces, 6 blocks, 7 digs; Rylee Clevenger – 1 ace, 10 digs, 2 assists, 15 serves received; Logyn Honkomp – 1 ace, 2 digs, 2 assists, 13 serves received
Rochester finishes 6th at Harrison Invite
The Rochester volleyball team went 1-3 and finished in sixth place out of eight teams at the Harrison (West Lafayette) Invitational Saturday.
Rochester went 1-2 in pool play before losing the fifth-place match to Covington.
In pool play, Rochester lost 25-14, 23-25, 15-9 to Harrison; defeated Covenant Christian 21-25, 25-20, 15-5; and lost to Pioneer 29-27, 25-20.
Covington then beat them 25-20, 25-14.
Rochester dropped to 5-10 on the season.
Tri-West went 4-0 on the day to win the tournament. They beat Benton Central, Lowell, Covington and Harrison (West Lafayette) without dropping a set.
ROCHESTER TEAM RESULTS
Harrison (West Lafayette) def. Rochester, 25-14, 23-25, 15-9
Rochester def. Covenant Christian, 21-25, 25-20, 15-5
Pioneer def. Rochester, 29-27, 25-20
Covington def. Rochester, 25-20, 25-14
ROCHESTER STATS VS. HARRISON
Brailyn Hunter – 6 kills, 1 ace; Audrey Bolinger – 2 blocks; Aubrey Wilson – 9 digs, 17 assists; Rylee Clevenger – 11 serves received; Darah Strasser – 10 serves received; Logyn Honkomp – 10 serves received
ROCHESTER STATS VS. COVENANT CHRISTIAN
Brailyn Hunter – 8 kills, 1 ace; Darah Strasser – 1 ace; Audrey Bolinger – 1 ace, 5 blocks; Ella Hake – 3 blocks; Avarie Montel – 2 blocks; Mia Howdeshell – 17 digs, 12 serves received; Aubrey Wilson – 21 assists; Rylee Clevenger – 13 serves received
ROCHESTER STATS VS. PIONEER
Audrey Bolinger – 7 kills, 1 ace, 2 blocks; Mia Howdeshell – 1 ace, 13 digs; Ella Hake – 2 blocks; Aubrey Wilson – 18 assists; Rylee Clevenger – 11 serves received
ROCHESTER STATS VS. COVINGTON
Audrey Bolinger – 7 kills, 2 aces; Logyn Honkomp – 1 ace; Rylee Clevenger – 1 ace; Avarie Montel – 1 block; Mia Howdeshell – 7 digs, 17 serves received; Aubrey Wilson – 17 assists
Comments