MUSKEGON TWP. - The Reeths-Puffer volleyball team has been playing rival Mona Shores at least twice a year for a very long time.
And the Rockets have been losing to the Sailors at least twice a year for a very long time.
According to online information, the last time R-P beat Mona Shores in volleyball was Sept. 26, 2017.
That frustrating drought very nearly came to an end on Tuesday night, when the rapidly improving Rockets hosted the Sailors, came from way behind to win the first set, and dominated the third set to take an exciting 2-1 lead.
But R-P fell just short, dropping the fourth set and the fifth-set tiebreaker and losing to the Sailors in O-K Green conference action at Reeths-Puffer High School.
R-P's Lexie Danz (6). Photo/Daniel Dunn
The set scores in the nail-biting match were 25-23, 20-25, 25-14, 18-25, 11-15.
The close call provided the latest evidence that the Rockets are ready to start seriously competing with the power teams in the O-K Green – Mona Shores, Caledonia, Jenison and Byron Center.
R-P has not beaten any of those teams in the past three years, since they have all been in the conference together. But Tuesday’s match was the first time in three years that the Rockets have won two sets in a match against any of those teams.
“We have improved a lot,” said first-year R-P head coach Syann Fairfield. “The first time we played them this year we had 17 service errors, so being able to dial in this time and not make so many errors in a tough match shows how much we’ve improved our mental game.
“We are running our systems, our offense is playing well, and we’re right there competing with some very good teams.”
R-P, with a young and very talented roster comprised of one senior, six juniors, four sophomores and one freshman, demonstrated a lot of strengths in the near miss.
R-P's Addison Whitaker (5). Photo/Daniel Dunn
One was a much-improved defense that consistently kept the ball in play during the intense action.
In the past Mona Shores would pound Reeths-Puffer into submission with its power game. The Sailors still have their share of big hitters, but on Tuesday the Rockets adjusted well, diving around the court and keeping a lot of those hard shots from hitting the floor.
Freshman Leah Zuniga led that effort with 21 digs, junior Addison Whitaker added 14, while sophomores Lexie Danz and Kate Tindall each had 12.
The great defense set up an aggressive offense that produced a lot of shots for points, and a lot of serves that the Sailors could not return.
Junior Peyton Radel was dominant at the net with 16 kills. Danz added 13 kills and two aces and Whitaker had five kills and three aces.
Peyton Radel (11) tries to get a shot past blockers. Photo/Daniel Dunn
Zuniga was really good at the service line, lobbing five aces at the Sailors. Tindall had 40 assists.
Tuesday’s match was the second sign of major progress in four days for the Rockets.
On Saturday they upset a very good Fruitport team in the third-place match at the Greater Muskegon Athletic Association meet.
They did that by overcoming a big deficit in the third and final set and beating the Trojans by two points.
The Rockets started their effort against Mona Shores in a very similar way.
They fell behind 8-0 in the first set, and nearly everyone in the gym was probably thinking the same thing – here we go again.
R-P's Mackenzie Danz (10) goes up for a kill. Photo/Daniel Dunn
Everyone but the Rockets, that is.
They pulled themselves together, started scoring a few points and narrowed their deficit to five points at 14-9.
R-P then won seven of the next nine points to tie the score at 16-16, before the Sailors fought back and built a 23-21 lead.
Zuniga then stepped up and served three straight aces to give the Rockets a 24-23 lead, and Radel pounded a kill to nail down the dramatic 25-23 victory.
“Usually you can only do that against pretty average teams, forcing them to make errors,” Fairfield said about the big comeback. “Against great teams it’s hard to do. I was super proud of the girls for that.”
Leah Zuniga serves for the Rockets. Photo/Daniel Dunn
The Rockets got off to another bad start in the second set and never recovered, finally falling 25-18.
R-P found its groove again in the third set, building an imposing 17-5 lead, cruising to a 25-14 victory and putting themselves on the brink of victory.
The fourth set was tied three times early on, at 4-4, 5-5 and 6-6, before Mona Shores grabbed the lead the rest of the way and won 25-18.
The fifth-set tiebreaker was tied 9-9 before Mona Shores won six of the last seven points to seal the match.
“We are so close,” Fairfield said. “We still have a lot to work on and figure out, but we are almost there. I am a little upset, but there’s a lot to be proud of.”
