Down 2-0, Rochester rallies past Pioneer again

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Amara Wieringa had 13 kills, Brailyn Hunter had 11, and Makayla Walley added 10 as the Rochester volleyball team earned their second five-set win in as many matches in a 24-26, 22-25, 25-20, 25-21, 15-12 win over Pioneer at the RHS gym Tuesday.

Rochester was coming off a five-set win over Plymouth in their season opener in which they staved off three match points in the fifth set. This also marked the second straight year Rochester beat Pioneer in five sets after losing the first two. They also pulled off the feat in Royal Center last year.

Pioneer scored the first two points in the fifth set before Rochester scored the next six on a Walley tip, an Aubrey Wilson tip, a Hunter kill, a Walley kill, a Laylah Demond kill error that hit the antenna and a Wieringa ace.

Pioneer would get within 9-7, 10-8 and 11-9. An Averi Layer kill error, a Wieringa kill that she put just inside the baseline and a Lois Layer kill error after a Walley block made it 14-9. An Averi Layer kill and two Demond kills thwarted the first three match points, but a Wieringa tip found the middle of the Pioneer floor to end the match.

“I said to the girls in one of our huddles, I said Saturday was a good indication of how today’s going to go,” Rochester coach Laneia Strasser said. “I said you worked hard on Saturday for this. You know what it feels like to be in that situation, so do it again. But let’s not come back from 11-14 in Set 5. It just put them in the right mindset, and I said you’ve got to work hard, and they had to work real hard on Saturday, and they had to work really hard tonight, and they did.”

Rochester let a 23-17 lead slip in Set 1 with Averi Layer pounding down four kills and a tip and Lois Layer supplying an ace to give Pioneer a set point at 24-23. Averi Layer missed a roll shot to tie it at 24.

A line violation on Rochester gave Pioneer another set point, and an Ava Bell kill ended the set.

Pioneer trailed Set 2 16-15 before going on a five-point run that included a Bell kill, a Demond kill, a Madyson Shaffer ace, a Shaffer service winner and a Bell stuff block.

Two Liz Kennell kills closed out the set after the Lady Zs got within 22-21.

In the third set, Averi Layer, Shaffer, Bell and Reese Martin all had service errors that accounted for four of Rochester’s final eight points.

“We gave that third set away,” Pioneer coach Rod Nies said. “I think we missed five serves in a row. That’s the ballgame. That right there is just a lack of focus and a maturity thing too. You just can’t do that, not in the big games and not against the good teams. … We could have won that in three, just too many missed serves.”

In the fourth set, Rochester went on a 7-2 run to take a 13-8 lead and gradually stretched the lead to 23-15 that Walley capped off with an ace. Pioneer won the next five points to get within 23-20, but kills from Wilson and Maddie Bailon forced a fifth set.

Logyn Honkomp, a senior libero who led Rochester with 24 digs and 32 serves received, said she plays club with many of the Pioneer players and said it means even more to play against your friends and beat them.

She was also asked what it means to the team’s confidence to win the first two matches the way they did.

“I think a lot is a confidence builder because Plymouth was usually very good, but this year we beat them, and Pioneer, it was a close game last year, so for it to be a close game this year and beat them again, it’s just even more amazing,” Honkomp said.