‘We weren’t as relentless as I’d like to be:’ Rochester falls to Whitko in 3, finishes TRC 3-6

Lett leads in kills, digs, serves received

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Keyton Doran

With middle hitter Audra Brandenburg whipping down attacks from the middle and outside hitters like Emerson Harper, Caitlin Beer and Gwen Howard also providing offense, the Whitko volleyball team swept host Rochester 25-17, 25-14, 25-14 at the RHS gym Thursday.

The loss spoiled Lillee Lett’s herculean effort – a team-leading eight kills, 17 digs, 18 serves received. Keyton Doran, Rochester’s only senior, had a kill, three digs and a serve received on senior night.

Rylee Clevenger had 15 serves received to go with her seven digs, and Darah Strasser had 10.

Aubrey Wilson had 14 assists. Logyn Honkomp had eight digs and eight serves received.

Rochester fell to 5-22 and finished

Lillee Lett

Three Rivers Conference play 3-6. Whitko is 15-12, 5-4.

With Rochester at a height disadvantage, coach Laneia Strasser said Rochester had to be the scrappier team to compete. That did not happen.

“We weren’t as relentless as I’d like to be,” coach Strasser said. “You know, we had moments of it. There quite a few rallies that went on for quite a long time, but it has to be the entire game. It’s that mentality that I’ve been trying to get them to realize: We’re not tall, so our defense has to be relentless. It has to be scrappy.”

Already leading 15-11 in the first set, Whitko went on an 8-2 run to end any doubt. Jillian Culp had two kills during the run, and Harper and Howard also put down kills. Katelyn Cripe had a clean ace.

Whitko also rampaged out to an 11-2 lead in the second set and weathered a mini-Rochester rally that reduced the lead to 18-11 thanks to a Honkomp service winner and a Lett kill.

Rochester trailed 13-3 in the third set before cutting the margin to 16-13. Lett had two kills, Strasser had an ace, and Avarie Montel capped the 10-3 run with a stuff block.

But Whitko responded with a 9-1 run to close it out, and Rochester’s only point came on a Whitko serve into the net.

Setter Katelyn Cripe kept feeding Brandenburg.

“We practiced double-blocking, triple-blocking,” coach Strasser said. “Really a lot of it is not even the amount of bodies that you have. It’s just figuring out where she’s going to go with it. It is hard to read her arm swing. It’s hard to read because she likes the quick. We tried to double-block her. That helped a little. My blockers got some touches on her. I can’t say I’m too disappointed in that side of the game. Diggers got quite a few touches. She’s a good ballplayer. She’s one of those you wish was on your team.”

Coach Strasser said the team regressed in multiple areas, including serve-receive. They had won matches last week against Wabash and Winamac on the road and had match point against Valley on Tuesday before falling in five.

“I don’t know,” Strasser said. “I keep saying it. … But I think it’s a mental side of the game. And they knew that 12 (Brandenburg) was good, that 16 (Howard) was good. And they feel like sometimes that beats them.”

Whitko def. Rochester, 25-17, 25-14, 25-14

ROCHESTER STATS

Darah Strasser – 2 kills, 1 ace, 7 digs, 10 serves received; Aubrey Wilson – 3 kills, 6 digs, 14 assists; Keyton Doran – 1 kill, 3 digs, 1 serve received; Lillee Lett – 8 kills, 17 digs, 2 assists, 18 serves received; Audrey Bolinger – 3 kills, 1 ace, 3 digs; Logyn Honkomp – 2 aces, 8 digs, 1 assist, 8 serves received; Avarie Montel – 1 block; Rylee Clevenger – 7 digs, 15 serves received; Ella Hake – 1 dig, 1 serve received; Brailyn Hunter – 1 serve received