Volleyball notes: Richmond-Burton shakes off first loss, continues remarkable run

Richmond-Burton, after starting the season 19-0, lost its first match of the season Saturday against Burlington Central during pool play of its own tournament.

The Rockets had not even lost a set until that point, so R-B coach Mike Kamholz was curious to see how his players would respond.

The answer?

Richmond-Burton rallied to top IC Catholic 23-25, 25-20, 15-6 in the semifinals, then earned a 25-12, 25-12 sweep against Burlington Central in the championship.

“When we took the loss, you can tell it bugged them,” Kamholz said. “I told them, ‘It’s OK. What good does it do if we win everything and then lose in the playoffs? An undefeated season means nothing if you can’t get anywhere.’

“[Senior outside hitter] Elissa [Furlan] kind of put it in perspective. She said what matters is how we respond. We have goals of what we want to accomplish, and ultimately this is good for us. It tells us we have some more work to do.”

After a nonconference win over Lakes on Monday, the Rockets are 22-1.

Last year, the Rockets were one of the area’s most dominant teams, going 14-0 in the Kishwaukee River Conference for their first conference championship since 2016. But R-B ended up losing in the Class 2A regional semifinals to Marian Central. The team’s last regional title was in 2016.

Richmond-Burton’s response to its first loss gave Kamholz a good indication of his player’s toughness.

“IC Catholic, they’re a solid team,” Kamholz said. “Burlington, they’ve got a 6-foot-4 middle and a 6-2 outside. Our tallest player is 5-10. What happens when people hit back at us? To win those, it gave me a boost of confidence, and it gave them a boost of confidence that maybe we are for real.

“To be able to execute a game plan and stay strong in the face of all that, it was good to see.”

In the tournament, senior setter Alex Hopp surpassed 2,000 career assists. She now has 442 assists this season, while Furlan leads the team with 176 kills. Sophomore outside Dani Hopp has 169 kills, junior Daniella Mazzola has 26 blocks, and sophomore Lanee Cooley has 201 digs. Alex Hopp and Furlan each have 57 aces.

Richmond-Burton is relatively young, with only Alex Hopp and Furlan as seniors. The team plays five sophomores.

“Coming into the season, I expected success, but I didn’t expect it to look like this,” Kamholz said. I knew we would fight, I knew we would battle, but I’ve kind of been blown away with how we’ve performed, especially being as young as we are.”

Hurricanes learning to win: Marian Central lost five of its first six matches to start the season, but recently have been one of the hottest teams in McHenry County.

Led by senior setter Alex Rewiako, senior outside hitter Hadley Rogge and junior middle blocker Nola Midday, the Hurricanes (13-9) are 11-3 over their past 14 matches.

First-year coach Doug Wilbrandt, who was an assistant for 16 years on some of the area’s most successful teams at Crystal Lake Central, said the formula to winning has been simple.

“The girls are starting to know one another and they’re starting to work together,” he said. “We combined the JV and varsity together, so we practice together and travel together. The girls are really getting familiar with each other and starting to anticipate each other’s moves. We’re playing as a team instead of individually.”

Marian regularly was among the top Class 3A schools not long ago, earning multiple state tournament berths since the start of 2010. The Hurricanes were 243-80 under Laura Watling from 2009 to 2016, winning a state title in 2015, taking runner-up in 2011 and 2016 and third in 2010.

Marian, now in 2A, already has surpassed its win total from last season, when the Hurricanes went 12-23 and 3-4 in the first year of the Chicagoland Christian Conference. Before joining the CCC, Marian played in the East Suburban Catholic Conference against much bigger schools

Recently, Marian went 3-2 at the Hampshire Tournament to take fifth with wins over Bartlett, Woodstock and Sycamore. On Sept. 23, the Hurricanes swept McHenry 25-21, 25-22.

“It’s just fun to see the girls starting to work together and starting to understand the game and get into a rhythm,” Wilbrandt said. “They haven’t had a winning season in five or six years. It’s not over, we still have a lot of volleyball left, but it’s been enjoyable after a rough start. I’m really proud of the girls.”

Gritzman reaches 1,000 digs: Burlington Central senior libero Brianna Gritzman, who led the FVC in digs last season with 426, surpassed 1,000 career digs in a sweep against Cary-Grove on Thursday. Gritzman recorded five digs and an ace in a 25-16, 25-13 sweep.

At the R-B Tournament, Gritzman had 32 digs as the Rockets finished runner-up with a 4-1 record.

Whips have FVC title aspirations: Hampshire has not been in contention for the FVC championship in some time. The Whip-Purs last won an FVC title in 2009, but they find themselves one win out of first-place behind Huntley entering play Tuesday.

Last week, Hampshire climbed out of a first-set deficit to beat Crystal Lake Central 27-25, 25-21, closing out the first half of the FVC schedule with one loss.

Players on Hampshire, which finished 19-17 last year and 9-9 in the FVC, give a lot of credit for the team’s turnaround to first-year coach Omar Cortez, who also coaches club at Top Flight.

“He works us through our drills, he works us on serve receive, hitting different types of shots, showing us how to roll and not just hammering the ball to the floor every single the time,” said junior outside hitter Elizabeth King, who leads the team with 188 kills and 60 aces.

“And keeping our bodies healthy, too,” said senior setter Jorah Rutter, an Eastern Illinois commit, who has 164 kills, 107 digs and 192 assists. “He’s very conscious of the fact that we’ve played the most games [among FVC teams] so far, so it’s really just making sure we stay healthy and stay competitive. It’s really showing in our game.”

Hampshire won its own tournament title Sept. 21, going 5-0 and defeating FVC rival Burlington Central in the championship. The team last won the tournament in 2018.

“It felt really good,” King said. “It showed everyone that we’re here to win.”