Volleyball: Richmond-Burton beats Woodstock North, takes control of KRC race

WOODSTOCK – Richmond-Burton was eager for its first of two conference battles against Woodstock North and didn’t let Monday’s opportunity go to waste.

After eking out a first-set win over the Thunder, the Rockets stayed poised and delivered a 26-24, 15-25, 25-21 victory to take sole possession of first place in the Kishwaukee River Conference.

Woodstock North (8-2, 4-1 KRC) has won the KRC in each of the past three years, while R-B (9-3, 5-0) was runner-up to the Thunder last season and has not won conference since 2016.

Although the Rockets beat the Thunder in two of three matches last season, Monday’s win felt much more important for an R-B team looking to take the next step.

“I feel like with such a young team, this is awesome for everyone to experience it,” said Rockets junior outside hitter Elissa Furlan, who posted 10 kills and 10 digs. “But we’re not done. We’re ready for [North] to come to our gym next time. We’re ready for everyone.”

In a tightly contested third set, R-B trailed North 19-17 but came out of a timeout with two key blocks from freshman rightside hitter Zoe Freund and senior outside hitter Maggie Uhwat.

The Rockets ended the match on a 8-2 run.

Furlan put down her 10th and last kill for a 24-21 lead, and then the Thunder hit into the net for match point.

“For our girls, we have four freshman out there, so to get a win against a good team in a big pressure game, it’s big for us. It tells them that we can do this.”

—  Mike Kamholz, Richmond-Burton coach

Richmond-Burton coach Mike Kamholz felt junior setter Alex Hopp, who earlier this season surpassed 1,000 career assists, was a calming influence for the Rockets in the closing moments of Monday’s match. Hopp finished with a match-high 32 assists.

“We have the offensive weapons, that’s not a question,” Kamholz said. “The fact that they were able to calm themselves and I was able to calm myself, too, I think it helped keep everyone confident. Alex was the one who was able to keep her composure and get the ball to the hitters when we needed it.

“For our girls, we have four freshman out there, so to get a win against a good team in a big pressure game, it’s big for us. It tells them that we can do this.”

Uhwat, an NCAA Division I Central Michigan commit, tallied eight kills, 11 digs and three blocks for R-B. Freund posted five kills and five blocks, and freshman middle blocker Dani Hopp had eight kills and six blocks. On defense, Lanee Cooley and Lilly Mumbower had eight digs apiece.

Alex Hopp said the Rockets were determined to finish “more than ever” after letting up in the second set.

“We just never gave up,” Hopp said. “We got our serve receive better, and we just kept pushing. As a setter, I’m just trying to move the ball around to different hitters. We really wanted it.”

The Thunder were led by senior Lexi Hansen with nine kills, six digs and two aces, senior Dani Hansen with seven kills and two aces and senior Caylin Stevens with eight kills. Gabby Schefke added 22 assists, Devynn Schulze had 11 digs and two aces, and Gwen Flores had four aces.

North coach Eric Schulze felt the Thunder learned a valuable lesson.

“They’re a good team, and they’ve got a lot of talent,” Schulze said. “We had some players in positions they weren’t used to, in terms of being in a varsity situation against your rival on the home court in a match with two 4-0 teams in the conference.

“I think we let the pressure get to us a little bit in the third set. I think they probably came into the match not sure if they can compete with these guys, and now they figured out they can. Richmond puts a lot of pressure on you. At the end of the day, they made the plays that we didn’t.”