Great 8: Rochester’s final rally avenges earlier loss to Northfield

Walley leads with 16 kills

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

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Aubrey Wilson Makayla Walley

WABASH — Sometimes a volleyball match does not turn out perfectly how you would hope. So how are you going to react?

Rochester volleyball coach Laneia Strasser said she had talked with her team about the mental side of volleyball and emphasized it further following a loss in five sets at home to Manchester Sept. 15.

Their positive response came against host Northfield Thursday. Playing a team they lost to at the Tomahawk Invitational at North Miami Aug. 22, Rochester scored the final eight points to win 25-16, 16-25, 25-23, 23-25, 15-11.

The match also marked an early career highlight for freshman Makayla Walley, who led Rochester with 16 kills and added three blocks and 10 digs.

Brailyn Hunter added eight kills. Aubrey Wilson had 34 assists, three kills and two aces. Amara Wieringa had six kills, 16 digs and 27 serves received playing six rotations.

In the back row, senior libero Logyn Honkomp had 23 digs and 30 serves received, and Emma Mathias had 11 digs and 10 serves received. Rilyn Strasser had seven digs and 10 serves received.

Emily Miller, a Jacksonville State recruit and an imposing six-rotation hitter, led Northfield with 25 kills, 19 digs and 28 serves received. Gemma Haupert added 21 kills, 10 digs and 15 serves received.

The win had a cost as senior Rilyn Strasser and sophomore Adalyn Gonzalez left after taking attacks to the head from the powerful Miller. Walley also appeared bothered with an apparent ankle injury after colliding with a teammate.

The rally started after Northfield scored four straight points to go up 11-7. Coach Strasser had a timeout left but elected not to use it. The momentum changed.

Brynn Double’s kill try went into the net for a sideout.

Mathias took over behind the service line and resided there the rest of the way.

Haupert put an attack into the net. Then Haupert put a tip into the net.

Northfield coach Tiffany Livesay called timeout.

It did not change the momentum. Double missed on a kill wide to the left. Mathias’ ace gave Rochester a 12-11 lead. When Haupert missed a kill long, Livesay called her last timeout.

It still did not change the momentum.

A Walley kill got Rochester to match point, and a Walley stuff block ended it.

“I think it was a big combination of a lot of things,” coach Strasser said of the match-ending run. “We had a big practice yesterday, and we talked about the mental side of the game because I feel like we lost against Manchester the other night because of the mental side of the game. And you saw tonight, they overcame that mental side and stuck in there. 

“Emma serves great. Our hitters played to win and swung hard. I think that was a big part of that set was the mental side.”

Northfield rallied from a 16-20 deficit in the fourth set to get it to a fifth. A Miller kill from the opposite down the line on set point capped the 9-3 rally.

“I think this game’s really big,” Wilson said. “You know, any game’s big. But conference first of all, and losing to them in the season definitely pushes us a little bit harder to beat them now. They’re a good team overall, but I think we just came together a little bit more and got it done.”

Then again, Rochester would not have been in a position to win in Set 4 without a comeback from 14-20 down in Set 3. Rochester responded with an 8-1 run. Wieringa had an ace and a dig kill that somehow dropped on Northfield’s side of the court. Walley had a roll shot. Honkomp had a service winner.

An Adriana Schenkel kill error capped off a marathon point and made it 21-all. Miller missed on a kill try from the back row. Two Walley kill errors put Northfield back up 23-22.

Wilson responded with a flying tip. Double missed on a tip that got Rochester to a set point. Haupert hit long to end the set.

“We put ourselves in these situations in practice, and I think just pushing each other and making each other uplifting, even after mistakes,” Wilson said. “We’re a mental team definitely, but when we stick together like that and help each other, we push through it. We take one point at a time, and we were just able to come back from that.”

A Miller kill that gave Northfield a 3-2 lead in Set 2 hit Gonzalez flush in the face and knocked her down. She got up slowly and went back to the bench. After a trainer tended to her, she came back in, but by that time, Rochester trailed 15-7. 

Rochester got within 20-14 and 21-15 but no closer.

The Lady Zs scored the first three points of the match and never trailed in Set 1. Leading 15-12, they gave themselves breathing room with a 7-1 run that included a Sylvia McCall stuff block on Miller and a Hunter kill off the net. 

A Walley stuff block ended the set. As it turned out, it would foretell the end of the match.

“We always say we don’t expect anybody to be perfect,” coach Strasser said. “You’re all going to make mistakes. It’s what you do to move past that one mistake, so it doesn’t turn into four, five, six errors.”

Junior middle hitter Maddie Bailon remained out with a left knee injury suffered in a match at Triton Aug. 24.

Rochester def. Northfield, 25-16, 16-25, 25-23, 23-25, 15-11

ROCHESTER STATS

Makayla Walley – 16 kills, 2 aces, 3 blocks, 10 digs; Adalyn Gonzalez – 7 kills, 8 digs, 6 serves received; Aubrey Wilson – 3 kills, 2 aces, 5 blocks, 7 digs, 34 assists, 1 serve received; Sylvia McCall – 1 kill, 2 blocks, 3 digs; Brailyn Hunter – 8 kills, 3 blocks, 4 digs, 1 serve received; Amara Wieringa – 6 kills, 1 ace, 2 blocks, 16 digs, 1 assist, 27 serves received; Emma Mathias – 1 ace, 11 digs, 10 serves received; Logyn Honkomp – 23 digs, 1 assist, 30 serves received; Rilyn Strasser – 7 digs, 10 serves received