GRAND HAVEN – The Reeths-Puffer volleyball team had to bid farewell to two seniors on Wednesday night when its season ended with a three-set loss to powerful Grand Haven in the Division 1 district semifinals.
Megan Barmes and Natalie Kunnen provided a lot of leadership for the team, helping the younger players learn and grow.
So who will take their place as leaders next fall, when the Rockets, with most of the roster intact, take the court and try to improve on this year’s 7-30-1 record?
“All of them,” said R-P Coach Justin Birr when that question was posed to him. “It’s kind of weird to think our lineup could be mostly intact. We have two sophomores that we brought up, two more sophomores we brought up for districts, and plenty of other sophomores who could help us out next year.
R-P's Hailey Johnsen (13) blasts a ball past a Grand Haven defender.
“The toughest thing is going to be finding which girls will earn those starting roles.
“Last year we had eight seniors, so districts felt very final. Today’s different because I don’t feel that way. Even though our season is done, there’s a lot of hope.”
The Rockets were huge underdogs headed into Wednesday’s match against Grand Haven, a traditional power that improved to 31-17 on the season with the victory.
The match went pretty much as expected, with the Bucs winning by set scores of 25-12, 25-15, 25-10.
Barmes wrapped up her career with a strong performance, leading the R-P defense with 13 digs.
R-P's Grace Darke (5) sets up Johnsen (13) for a shot.
Three girls who will play key roles next season paced the offense. Mady Snyder and Alyssa Klopp posted five and four kills, respectively, while Grace Darke served up 15 assists.
“It’s tough,” Coach Birr said. “Grand Haven’s good. We prepared well, but we didn’t play our best. We didn’t pass super well, and they’re pretty big and pretty fast.
“It’s tough to be proud in a loss, but these girls have fought hard all season. Our record doesn’t show how much we’ve improved with how young we are.”
The Rockets’ two seniors will take away a lot of memories from their senior season, even though it didn’t go great on the court.
Obviously Kunnen will never be able to forget the grotesque finger injury she suffered on the second day of team tryouts back in August.
She was blocking when one of the R-P hitters nailed a ball that connected just right with her pinky finger. She suffered an open dislocation injury, to the horror of Kunnen, her coaches and her teammates.
R-P's Mady Snyder tips a shot over the net.
“Looking down and seeing my bone, it was definitely monumental,” Kunnen said.
Kunnen had to go through eight weeks of rehab and physical therapy and missed a lot of the season. She was happy she was able to make it back for the last few weeks and do what she could to help the team.
She even tried to contribute before she returned to the court, providing as much energy as she could from the bench.
“It was definitely hard watching everyone do what I wanted to do, but I also know the bench is just as important as people in the game,” Kunnen said. “If people on the bench are hype, then the court is hype. It’s a group effort, for sure.”
Barmes said she enjoyed the opportunity to help the younger players understand the varsity game – how it’s important to have fun while still getting the job done.
R-P Coach Justin Birr talks to the team during a break in the action.
“I think us being their role models helped them learn both sides – having a sense of humor while maintaining intensity and seriousness,” Barmes said.
“It was kind of foreign this year. It was a different dynamic than we’re used to, but as the season went on, we got closer with the girls and started to understand each other’s tendencies, skills and weaknesses, and that bonded us together.”
Both Kunnen and Barmes see a lot of potential in their younger teammates, and said it really started to show last week in a pair of matches against North Muskegon and Whitehall.
The Rockets lost both, but the seniors thought they caught a glimpse of what the team might be able to do next season.
“That was probably the most intense and consistent we played all season,” Barmes said.
