Girls volleyball: Defending KRC champion Richmond-Burton opens with victory over rival Johnsburg

RICHMOND – Coming off of its first conference championship since 2016, Richmond-Burton fully expects to see the best from its opponents this season on the volleyball court.

“We have a big target on our backs, we know a lot of people want to take use down,” said senior setter Alex Hopp, a Wisconsin-Oshkosh commit. “We’re kind of taking that and using that to boost ourselves up and really practice how we play.

“Just go out and do our thing.”

The Rockets looked similar to last year’s dominant group in their season opener Monday with a 25-22, 25-15 victory against Johnsburg in Kishwaukee River Conference action. After going 14-0 in KRC play last season, R-B now has won 15 consecutive conference matches.

Alex Hopp had 16 assists and three aces for R-B (1-0, 1-0 KRC), senior outside hitter Elissa Furlan had five kills and one block, and sophomore outside hitter Dani Hopp had six kills. Lanee Cooley posted 15 digs, and Reagan Wisniewski and Zoe Freund added three kills apiece.

R-B went 29-7 last season, the team’s most wins since finishing runner-up in Class 3A in 2012 with a 37-5 mark. The Rockets return most of their starters from last year with the biggest loss at outside hitter in Maggie Uhwat (team-leading 315 kills), who now is at Central Michigan.

Furlan, a Wright State commit, said the team was eager to start the season.

“There were definitely a lot of nerves going in, but not so much scared nerves,” Furlan said. “We were just anxious to get out there and show what we can do.”

R-B coach Mike Kamholz felt his players did a good job of keeping Johnsburg on its toes by mixing up the offense.

“I thought our passing was pretty solid for the most part,” Kamholz said. “I thought our movement was good for the first match. We were moving the ball around a little bit and ran a few more plays, which is something I want to be the staple of who we are. Not really predictable and not always the same thing.

“We kept our energy up, and we never really stressed, so I’m super proud of that.”

Trailing 9-6 in the first set, R-B went on an 8-1 run to take the lead for good. Wisniewski had two aces, Dani Hopp had two kills, and Zoe Freund tallied an ace during the run. Kamholz felt Freund and Furlan played key roles in turning the set around.

“I think Zoe really stood out,” Kamholz said. “She really took charge of the back row tonight and kept everyone in it. And Elissa, she’s energetic, she’s talking to everybody, and she’s keeping them going.”

Johnsburg made a late run in the opening set, cutting a 24-16 R-B lead to 24-22 before a Dani Hopp kill ended it for the Rockets. Toward the end of the second set, the Skyhawks (0-1, 0-1) went on a 6-0 run after trailing 21-9.

Johnsburg has many new faces on the court and has to replace starting setter Delaney Stern (now at Oakland), who is the school’s all-time leader in assists and aces. Freshman Adelaide Bruns is now the team’s setter.

Johnsburg coach Abby Bruns was proud of her team for showing no quit.

“For being so inexperienced, we had some good solid plays,” Abby Bruns said. “We’ve got to work on our passing and our blocking. I think if we work on those two things, we’ve only got one way to go, and that’s up. They didn’t give up, they continued to dig and they continued to play. I was happy with that.”

Johnsburg was led offensively with two kills apiece from Carlie Majercik, Casie Majercik, Mia Andrle and Adelaide Bruns. Juliana Cashmore added three blocks, Abriana Bruns tallied 10 digs and Adelaide Bruns had eight assists.

Dani Hopp, who started as a freshman, is excited to see how the Rockets respond as the defending KRC champs.

“We have a pretty young team, and I feel like we jell so well,” Dani Hopp said. “We’re confident in each other, so we just go out there and do what we know we could do.”