Rochester unveils 2-setter system vs. NM in scrimmage

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Maddy Bailon

Those who saw the Rochester volleyball team at their home scrimmage with North Miami Thursday definitely saw some enthusiasm.

On one play, Maddy Bailon came up with an emphatic stuff block, and a teammate excitedly shoved her and inadvertently knocked down Ella Hake standing nearby.

Those who saw the Lady Zs also saw a two-setter system. Junior Aubrey Wilson has surrendered some of the setting responsibilities to Amara Wieringa in order to get some more chances to hit.

It was part of a night in which coach Laneia Strasser was trying out different combinations of players to see who worked well with whom.

“And just the flow of where I have girls starting,” coach Strasser said when determining playing time, rotations and finding the right mix of players. “There’s a lot of strategy behind it. One coach might do it this way. Playing time in a scrimmage to me, I had to look at it as I’m trying to figure out what my lineup is. I tried a couple different girls in positions. In Set 3, I went back to what we won Set 2 with, and then it didn’t work out, so then you think, what the heck, it looked right on paper, and it worked in Set 2. Why didn’t it work in Set 3? And sometimes it just doesn’t.”

Per IHSAA scrimmage rules, after a first set in which each team served 30 times, they started keeping score in the second set. North Miami won that set 25-13, but Rochester came back to win the next set 25-23.

“I feel like we started to play a little bit more of our game,” Strasser said. “We didn’t let the mistakes control us, and we came back instead of getting behind. We didn’t get behind and stay behind. We kept ticking away.”

Rochester had to face a North Miami team with good height with Grace Sailors, Ashtyn Halterman and Kayden Donaldson. That was a good challenge for a Rochester team that could more accurately be described as athletic rather than tall.

North Miami came back and won the fourth set 15-4.

“I feel like that’s definitely something that’s not our strength,” Strasser said. “So we have to figure out how to run an offense against a tall team. You know, I think we started to figure it out. We started to take advantage when they did have a little bit of a shorter front row. We need to learn as a block to be a little quicker and know who their hot hands are, and we kind of struggled with that today. Our girls were too slow to defend, but we also learned too how important it is to be a block because if not, you’re going to get run over by Grace Sailors like we did.”

Those who went on serving runs included Wieringa, Avarie Montel, Rilyn Strasser and Logyn Honkomp. Freshman Lyla Bowers went on a nine-point service run in a JV set that Rochester won 25-23 to close out the night.

But there were also some frustrations behind the line in situations that coach Strasser called “the money ball.” In other words, sometimes you have to be aggressive with your serves, and sometimes you just have to get the ball over the net and in play.

“We had some big momentum changers with some missed serves,” coach Strasser said. “And that’s something we talked about a lot. I think I’m going to have to put a little bit more importance on that in practice. I blame that more on myself, I guess, than them. Because I do put a lot of pressure on them, but that’s something I’m going to have to step up my game and challenge them more not to miss.”

Rochester’s three defensive specialists were Strasser, Honkomp and J.J. Graber, all juniors. Graber is a move-in from Goshen.

“They struggled a little bit,” coach Strasser said. “I felt like they were playing on their heels a little more than I’d like for our defense. Like I said, a lot of it is experience, and I don’t have a lot of experience there at this level.”

Rochester will open the season with a home match at 11 a.m. Saturday. Freshman and JV matches will precede the varsity match.