Bolinger has 9 kills, but Rochester falls in 4 to Plymouth in opener

Clevenger has 18 digs, Howdeshell adds 23 serves received

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

PLYMOUTH — Audrey Bolinger had nine kills, and Rylee Clevenger had a team-high 18 digs to go with 10 serves received, but the Rochester volleyball team lost to host Plymouth 25-14, 23-25, 25-15, 25-15 in their season opener Saturday.

Mia Howdeshell led the team in aces (two) and serves received (23) and also had 12 digs. Howdeshell also had the back row kill that clinched the second set for the Lady Zs.

Lillee Lett added four kills, 11 digs and 15 serves received. Darah Strasser had 10 digs.

Aubrey Wilson had 22 assists and 16 digs.

Rochester trailed 20-22 in Game 2 before evening the match. Avarie Montel’s crazy save after it hit a basketball backboard led to the first point, and Montel then tied it with a kill.

Plymouth called timeout, but in the first point after the timeout, a Howdeshell service winner combined with a Plymouth ding dong play gave Rochester the lead. When Lett went down the outside line, it was 24-22. 

A back row kill from Plymouth’s Haylee Busse cut the lead to 24-23, but Howdeshell terminated a nervous point from both sides with a strong, flat-footed attack to give Rochester the set.

Rochester fell behind 6-2 in the third set but came back to lead 9-8 on a Howdeshell ace and a Lett kill. Plymouth jumped back ahead 14-9, but a Montel kill, an Eva Sheedy kill error and a Logyn Honkomp ace cut it to 14-12. 

But Plymouth closed out the set on an 11-3 run, and the only kill that Rochester had during that span came on a Bolinger tip.

Rochester hung within 10-9 in the fourth set after a Sheedy service error and a Strasser kill off the block. But Plymouth had runs of 5-1 and 6-0 to take a 22-12 lead before closing it out.

Sheedy and Sophie Miller had 12 kills each for Plymouth. Miller was a formidable middle blocker.

“For sure, that was where we struggled the most,” Rochester coach Laneia Strasser said of Miller. “She was their strongest rotation, I would say. I kept saying, ‘You’ve got to have an answer for 10 (Miller’s uniform number). She runs a quick, and it’s a little bit more of a quick with a distance on it, which was harder for our middle to adjust on. But I said you’ve got to adjust. You can’t follow the setter. You know they’re going to use number 10. You know where number 10 is. Get there quicker. And it just didn’t happen. You can tell she plays a lot of volleyball.”

Asked about the team’s offense, coach Strasser said injuries to Wilson (wrist), Lett (ankle) and Bolinger (knee) kept the team from operating at full power.

“Today wasn't a good representation,” coach Strasser said. “I don’t think I have everybody firing at 100% as far as the physical side of things. We got a little bit of a twisted ankle, a twisted knee. I would look for our offense to improve over the next few weeks.”

Bolinger, Clevenger, Howdeshell, Lett and Strasser are the team’s five seniors.

Plymouth also won the JV match 25-20, 25-19 and the freshman match 25-18, 23-25, 15-4.

Plymouth coach Shauna Fagan is a 2013 Rochester grad.

Plymouth def. Rochester, 25-14, 23-25, 25-15, 25-15

ROCHESTER STATS

Darah Strasser – 2 kills, 1 ace, 10 digs, 1 assist, 7 serves received; Aubrey Wilson – 2 kills, 16 digs, 22 assists; Avarie Montel – 3 kills, 1 block; Mia Howdeshell – 1 kill, 2 aces, 12 digs, 23 serves received; Brailyn Hunter – 4 kills, 3 digs, 9 serves received; Amara Wieringa – 2 kills, 1 dig; Lillee Lett – 4 kills, 11 digs, 1 assist, 15 serves received; Audrey Bolinger – 9 kills, 2 digs, 1 serve received; Logyn Honkomp – 1 ace, 3 digs, 1 assist, 7 serves received; Rylee Clevenger – 18 digs, 10 serves received; Ella Hake – 1 dig