It was not a victory, but in a very real sense it was.
The Reeths-Puffer volleyball team finally won a set against one of the big four teams in the O-K Green conference, something it had failed to do in 14 matches over two years against Jenison, Caledonia, Byron Center or Mona Shores.
But R-P traveled to Mona Shores on Thursday and won the first set 25-23. The Rockets lost the last three sets and the match, but two of the final three were competitive.
Lexie Danz
The final match scores were 25-23, 23-25, 10-25, 19-25.
The Rockets are now 18-18 overall on the season and 2-7 in conference play.
Just last week, after a straight set loss to Caledonia, R-P head coach Justin Birr was saying that it was high time for his team to break through against one of the elite opponents in the conference, even if that meant breaking the ice by winning just one set.
That happened quickly on Thursday and Birr could note have been more pleased.
Kate Tindall
“I said the girls need to experience it,” Birr said. “They need to see that they can do it, and tonight it finally happened.
“There's one word that describes tonight for me – pride. I know I can overuse the word sometimes in my comments, but I was immensely proud of our girls tonight to the point of tears. They battled so hard, and every member of our team contributed to our success.
“I'm especially proud of our five seniors and how they stepped up on the court through their confidence and leadership. And once again our younger players were some of the leaders on the stat line.”
Carlee Bowen
Freshman Lexie Danz led the way with 14 kills for R-P while Abby Machinski added six. KateTindall had 20 assists.
Defensively, Carlee Bowen had 14 digs, Tindall had 11 digs and Peyton Radel had four blocks.
The Rockets will host Byron Center on Tuesday on Senior Night. 