Rochester volleyball shows off more offense, depth in summer scrimmage

Lady Zs lose to John Glenn, beat Triton

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

July can be a month to experiment with different set-ups and alignments for a high school volleyball coach, and Rochester’s Laneia Strasser used Monday’s three-way summer scrimmage against John Glenn and Triton at the RHS gym to try a one-setter system.

It’s a familiar group that is back for Strasser as she begins her fourth year. Avarie Montel and Ella Hake graduated, but the entire back row returns.

The top four hitters from last year – Brailyn Hunter, Amara Wieringa, Maddie Bailon and Aubrey Wilson – are all back too, and there is a fifth hitting option in freshman Makayla Walley.

The familiar faces had mixed results. Rochester lost to John Glenn 21-18, 21-19 before winning a third set 15-12. Against Triton, they won 15-21, 21-13, 15-9.

With a familiar group, Strasser can try different strategies. She said she played mostly a two-setter system at the John Glenn league last week and mostly a one-setter system Monday. She said she sees strong points to both. She said it’s “to be determined” as to which alignment she will use once the season starts.

“I’ve been going back and forth on what I do with that,” Strasser said. “Just different girls at different positions. … Just playing girls out of their normal position of where you think that they’re going to play just to see what their whole potential is. And just really mixing it up? Do I want to run a 5-1? Do I want to run a 6-2? I can see it both ways during the summer.”

Wieringa, Bailon and Honkomp all eclipsed the 200-dig mark last year. Emma Mathias could factor in the back row. In addition to Wieringa and Bailon, Walley could be a six-rotation player along with Wilson, Hunter and Adalyn Gonzalez.

Jenna Seuferer and KayLea McCarty also saw action in different rotations.

Senior Rilyn Strasser and junior Emma Mathias also have back row experience.

“I feel like we started out shaky today with that,” Strasser said. “It’s been kind of hard over the summer because we haven’t had the same group of girls every week. They haven’t always been playing like you normally would, but I do think our back row has come a long way. Today was probably the worst, I think, that we’ve played as far as back row to start with. Just like we’ve told them, you know what to do. You just have to move your feet and read the ball and pass off an angle. I do think it’s exciting because we have a lot of experience, more so than what we’ve had in the whole time I’ve coached.”

Coach Strasser also noted that the girls who played club volleyball over the winter looked the sharpest with their passing Monday.

“What do I expect from them? Just keep working hard,” coach Strasser added. “You can never get too good at passing. That’s always the part of the game that’s the most important. That’s never going to change, and it dictates basically who wins and who loses.”

The highlight of the night might have come in the second set against John Glenn. Trailing 19-12, they won seven straight points to tie the set. The run included Bailon going down the line from the opposite side and then a serving run from Bailon. Bailon also had a kill, and Hunter had a kill on a two-handed tip. A scrappy defensive point led to a back row kill error from John Glenn that sailed long that tied the set.

If the passing is good enough that they can get to their offense, Strasser said she is hopeful they can rely on more than just one hot hand.

The possibilities of the offense showed themselves in the final four points of the night. Trailing defending Class 1A regional champion Triton 12-11 in the third set, Walley had a tip, Wieringa had a kill, Gonzalez had a kill, and Bailon ended with a service winner.

“To have more than one girl be hot each night will be huge for us,” Strasser said. “At last week’s league at John Glenn, three or four of them just jumped out as dominating, consistent hammers, and I haven’t had that thus far in my coaching career. So yeah, we have a lot of options as far as weapons in the front row. Amara Wieringa is swinging like crazy, and you saw a little bit of that tonight. Gonzo made huge strides. She’s a totally different front row player. … Last week, she hit a ball, and the whole gym just looked at each other like, ‘Holy cow.’

“Makayla Walley is stepping in as a freshman, and she’s got a lot of consistency,” Strasser said. “She’s smart about it. She knows when to swing hard and when to place the ball. Aubrey is a weapon. Brailyn too. I have a lot more depth as far as hitting this year, which is exciting.”

Bailon, about to start her junior year, is the most experienced middle hitter. Other possible options include Wilson, senior Kyra Doran, junior Sylvia McCall and Walley.

“I think even just in the offseason, you’ve seen a different Maddie Bailon,” coach Strasser said. “She’s playing with more confidence. She’s quick. She can jump. She has a ton of hang time. So I feel confident in her middle. I have a lot of different theories on who to run with as another middle. We don’t have a ton of height advantage, and we never have this whole time that I’ve coached other than Avarie. She’s probably the tallest person that we’ve ever had. So I have to look at the middle as, OK, who’s my quickest then? Who can read the ball the best? I have a lot of depth.”

Strasser said Rochester has played Mishawaka Marian, Plymouth, South Bend Adams and Bremen as well as John Glenn and Triton twice each this summer.

“We’ve played a lot of good competition this summer,” coach Strasser said. “That was a new league that we played in. Last summer, we played in Pioneer’s league half the year, and the other half of the summer, we played at John Glenn. And I just felt like we had higher quality playing against John Glenn’s league, so that’s why we took that jump this year, and it was great.”

A tough schedule is needed to help prepare for a daunting Three Rivers Conference. Southwood won 30 matches last season, and Northfield, Manchester, Maconaquah and Wabash all won at least 20.

“We’re going to play that in our season,” coach Strasser said. “We have a tough schedule. It’s very important that we see them in the offseason. Nothing against Pioneer, but we just didn’t get stuck in those high-competitive games. We played a lot of slower-paced teams, and that’s not something that we see in our season, so we don’t need to practice that way in the offseason.”

Doran and Mathias were not present Monday.

The team will have a sand volleyball match at Winamac today and an open gym Wednesday. Practice starts statewide Aug. 3. The season starts with a match at Plymouth at noon Aug. 15.