There was an unfortunate moment of déjà vu for the Rochelle varsity volleyball team during its nonconference match against Earlville on Wednesday.
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ROCHELLE — There was an unfortunate moment of déjà vu for the Rochelle varsity volleyball team during its nonconference match against Earlville on Wednesday.
Leading 24-20 in the second game, the Lady Hubs were unable to secure the victory, as the Raiders rallied for six unanswered points to tie the match 1-1 and force a tiebreaker. The situation was similar to Rochelle’s road match against Plano earlier this year, where the Reapers trailed 24-20 but came back to win the match in three games.
But the Lady Hubs weren’t going to let Wednesday’s match slip away, and behind a strong combination of sophomore setter Clare Green and junior hitter Katie Van Hise, the Lady Hubs took the third game and won the match 2-1 by a score of 25-17, 24-26, 25-18 to improve to 8-6-1 overall and surpass their win total of seven matches from 2017.
“We knew we needed to come out stronger,” senior Abby Tilton said. “We knew they were going to be more intense after the second game and we knew how much they wanted it. We just needed to get the thought of what we did wrong out of our heads.”
Rochelle dominated most of the first game, beginning the match on a 9-3 run to force an early timeout by Earlville. Service errors by the Raiders helped the Lady Hubs build a 19-6 lead before Earlville found its rhythm and went on an 8-2 run to make it a 20-13 game. Earlville came within five points before Rochelle rolled off three straight points to claim the first game.
“We’ve been playing together for so long that we all get along,” Tilton said. “Everybody is really encouraging and there hasn’t been any drama. I think that’s been a big part of our success this season.”
Quality blocking from Tilton and junior Allison Seebach helped Rochelle take a 12-9 lead in the second game, and service errors continued plaguing Earlville. Two consecutive service errors netted Rochelle a 20-15 lead, but the Lady Hubs were unable to put the Raiders away, as Earlville scored 11-of-15 points down the stretch.
Rochelle started the third game with a 9-6 advantage before Van Hise almost single-handedly took over the Lady Hub offense, earning five kills to help build the Rochelle lead to 14-7. Seebach put a kill shot down from the middle area for Rochelle’s 20th points of the game, and one of Tilton’s two blocks in the match sealed the victory for the Lady Hubs.
Four Rochelle players finished with double-digit digs including senior Sarah Craven, who led Rochelle with 19 digs. Green added 12 digs while senior Grace Orlikowski totaled 11 and senior Emma Mehrings had 10. Van Hise shined at the outside hitter spot, totaling 16 kills to just one error. Green finished with 27 assists.
“We all really wanted to do well last year but we weren’t quite able to pull it off,” Tilton said. “We’ve continued working hard in practice and we have a good attitude coming into every match.”
