Billie Tryska has never gotten a lot of headlines, but the three-sport Reeths-Puffer senior has done a lot of big things at crucial times for all of her teams.
Back in the fall she was a valuable member of the Reeths-Puffer volleyball team. Much of the attention was focused on big hitter Madisyn Dykema, but Tryska had some big days, like piling 15 kills and seven aces in the Coopersville Invitational.
In the winter she was a key member of the girls basketball team. Much of the attention was focused on big scorers Sophia Hekkema, Ariel Walker and Brooklynn Tornes, but Tryska had highlight moments, like sinking crucial free throws in the final minutes to help seal up close wins over Ludington and Zeeland East.
She has done her best work this spring with the R-P girls soccer team. A good portion of the Rockets’ scoring comes from Hekkema, the Rockets' single-season record-holder for goals, but Tryska has come up big in several games, particularly over the last few weeks.
R-P senior soccer standout Billie Tryska
Her hot streak started on April 25 when she scored two goals, including the final one with 4:20 left, giving the Rockets an important 4-4 tie in conference action against Zeeland West.
She kept it rolling on May 9, scoring one goal and assisting on another in a 4-1 win over Fruitport on Senior Night.
Tryska played a huge part in the Rockets’ 4-0 victory over Zeeland East in the O-K Green conference tournament semifinals, scoring two goals within about four minutes of each other.
That victory put R-P in last Monday’s conference tournament championship game against Mona Shores. Unfortunately no Rockets scored and they left the field with a deflating 1-0 loss.
They bounced back quickly last Wednesday, however, in the Division 2 district tournament opener against Fremont. Tryska again scored two goals in rapid succession - one within the first five minutes and the other about 10 minutes later – helping Reeths-Puffer post a 5-0 victory and keep its season alive.
Tryska is greeted by her coaches after scoring a goal.
Tryska’s scoring explosion has left her with 14 goals, which is pretty good for a team-first, pass-first player.
“I always knew she could be a contributor (with goals), but I didn’t know they would come in this quantity,” said R-P Coach Kody Harrell. “I was a little surprised to see that all of the sudden she had 14 goals, because she’s a big ball distributor who always puts the team first."
Tryska, one the Rockets’ captains, admits it's been fun putting the ball in the net.
“It took me a while,” said Tryska, who also has 10 assists this season. “I’m so used to assisting, and now I’m finding myself in the right place to put myself in position to get the final touch. As soon as I got the first one, I was ready for the rest of them.”
Tryska has been battling injuries and pain for her entire senior year, but keeps pushing to do as much as she can while she still can.
Tryska (16) and Sophia Hekkema try to get at the ball with a Zeeland East player in the way.
She broke her left arm early in the volleyball season while playing in a scrimmage with her travel soccer team. That knocked her out of the volleyball lineup for most of the season.
“That was pretty devastating,” Tryska said. “It was my senior year of volleyball, I was on a high, I was getting better and thinking, ‘Oh gosh, this is my year…”
Tryska developed painful shin splints during basketball season, which carried over into soccer season, but she ignores that issue when the games are on.
“With the adrenalin rush in games, I just don’t think about it anymore,” she said. “I just want to give everything I have this season, then I can take a huge break for the rest of my life.”
Tryska developed severe cramps in her calves during the Senior Night game against Fruitport, but still pushed through.
Tryska plays the ball off her head last week against Fremont.
“Senior Night was awesome,” she said. “That was the most fun I ever had playing soccer. Everybody on the team was playing for us seniors. I cramped in both of my calves, but the student section as like, ‘You’ve just got to get up, you’ve got to run,’ so I got back into the game. It hurt really bad. I really couldn’t walk for the next few days.
“It was just the thought that it’s all coming to an end soon, and I never really want to take myself off the field. I want to take in every moment of this that I can.”
Tryska's biggest motivation is helping the Rockets, 12-5-3, cap off a really good season with a district tournament trophy.
The Rockets fought hard for at least a share of the O-K Green title, but finished second after losing twice to Mona Shores by maddening scores of 2-1 and 1-0.
It would have been easy for the Rockets to fold up after last Monday’s loss to Shores, but the push for the next goal – a district championship – began two days later, so there was no time to worry about anything else.
Tryska (16) battles an opponent for the ball near the sideline.
“We just started thinking about the opportunity in front of us instead of dreading the one behind us,” she said about beating Fremont last week. “We realized the possibility of a district title is in reach, so we all worked together.”
The win over Fremont put the Rockets in Tuesday’s district semifinals against Ludington at 7 p.m. at Fruitport High School. The winner will advance to Thursday’s district title game against Spring Lake or Fruitport.
If the Rockets beat Ludington, there’s a pretty good chance they would face Spring Lake, the No. 1 ranked team in the state. R-P fell to the Lakers 3-0 in a non-conference game a few weeks ago.
Tryska said R-P would be very fired up for a rematch.
Hekkema (10) and Tryska (16) break in on the Fruitport goalkeeper.
“I just get goose bumps thinking about another chance against Spring Lake,” she said. “They are super good at soccer, but we’re also a very good team. We watched the film of the first game and know exactly where we went wrong. We just had a few mistakes, and we have to minimize those mistakes.”
Tryska will play hard all the way to the end because her R-P career is nearly over, and she has no plan to play college sports.
Tryska and the rest of R-P’s Class of ‘23 will graduate on June 6, so she’s leaving everything on the field.
“It’s really hard, particularly with this year’s soccer team,” said Tryska, who will enroll at Central Michigan University in the fall. “I have literally been playing with these girls since I was 12. Thinking about it being done and never playing with them ever again is really, really sad.”
