After falling in its first set to the Sycamore Lady Spartans on Tuesday, the Lady Hubs varsity volleyball team had a chance to stretch the match further with a victory in the second set.
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SYCAMORE — After falling in its first set to the Sycamore Lady Spartans on Tuesday, the Lady Hubs varsity volleyball team had a chance to stretch the match further with a victory in the second set.
Rochelle strung a series of points together to take a 20-19 lead over the Lady Spartans and force a Sycamore timeout late in the second set. But the purple and white were unable to stay in rhythm after the break, and Sycamore took six of the game’s final seven points to take down the Lady Hubs by a final score of 25-21, 25-21.
“When we serve the ball out of bounds and get aced on the next play, that’s a big turnaround,” head coach John Pfaff said. “In those crucial moments, we need to forget about the crowd, the score and our adrenaline, and we need to focus like we do in practice.”
Service errors plagued both Sycamore and Rochelle on Tuesday, and while the Lady Spartans led for nearly the entire contest, the Lady Hubs never trailed by more than four points in either set. Junior Emma Mehrings led Rochelle with four kills in the match, while seniors Jacie Wyatt and Morgan Knight each totaled three kills.
While Wyatt remains Rochelle’s staring setter, Pfaff said the team is continuing to find ways to get her involved on offense, which means junior setter Mandi Lamb will have an opportunity to prove herself at the varsity level. Lamb was the starting setter for a Rochelle sophomore team that won 22 games in 2016.
“Jacie’s a great setter but she’s also one of our strongest hitters, and that takes the pressure off of our middles and our outsides,” Pfaff said. “If Jacie is out there, it balances our offense, and it forces Mandi to step her game up… This pace is much quicker and there is much less room for error.”
Junior Sarah Craven continued to anchor the Rochelle defense on Tuesday, leading the Lady Hubs with seven digs while Mehrings added three digs. The varsity team falls to 5-6-2 with the loss, but the Lady Hubs will have a chance to bounce back against Geneseo on Thursday. Pfaff said the key to defeating the Lady Leafs will be limiting errors and staying in position.
“There are a lot of little things we need to clean up,” Pfaff said. “If we’re a foot out of position on defense, someone is going to get that kill. And if we’re swinging and our arms aren’t as high as they should be or we aren’t taking the right approach against a big blocker, that’s the difference between in and out.”
