Volleyball: Rock Falls pulls away to win home opener

ROCK FALLS – After a pair of entertaining sets to open the 2024 volleyball season at Tabor Gym, Rock Falls finally grabbed the momentum and rode it to a 25-19, 15-25, 25-10 victory over Dunlap on Thursday night.

The Rockets (1-1) took control of the first set with an Isela Valdivia ace and kills by Kacie Witherow, Kayla Hackbarth and Kaltrina Lecaj to build an 18-13 lead; they led by at least four points the rest of the way.

“We all just really wanted it,” senior Carolyn Masini said. “Our defense was on, our setting was on, our hits were on. Everyone was really focused in on the game, and we just really, really wanted to win our first match at home.”

[ Photos from Rock Falls vs. Dunlap volleyball ]

Dunlap (0-1) grabbed the lead in the second set with a kill by Chloe Roberts and an ace and back-row kill by Becca Lopez for a 12-7 lead, then an ace and a back-row kill by Tessa Arnott around a block by Samantha Matheny made it 19-12. The Eagles led by at least six the rest of the way.

“We ran the middles a lot in the second set, which helps us open up single blocks on the pins,” Dunlap coach Michelle Forbes said. “We had a lot more momentum and energy, and that really helped us push through and encouraged all the girls on the court to do their best.

“I thought we played really well together as a team, I thought we were playing really loose, really relaxed, and just having fun. I think that’s what really carried us through, for sure.”

But Rock Falls got its mojo back to start the third set, and built an 8-3 lead on an ace from Valdivia, three kills from Lecaj, and another spike from Lilly Betts.

After Lecaj dumped a second-touch kill in the back corner for a sideout and a 12-7 lead, Elizabeth Lombardo reeled off nine straight points for the Rockets, with Ari Reyna and Hackbarth each contributing both a kill and a block to the surge. Witherow’s kill finished the run and put Rock Falls up 21-7, then she added another kill before another Valdivia ace for a 23-8 margin. The teams traded the final four points.

“I feel like the second game, we kind of eased off a little bit. After we won the first set, we thought we’d win the second; obviously that wasn’t true,” Lombardo said. “But then the third set, we kind of came together, took a deep breath, and just talked about everything that we did in the first set and didn’t do in the second set, and just worked on it. I really thought the student section helped a lot; they made a lot of noise for us tonight.”

“We just couldn’t get it together [in the third set],” Forbes said of the Eagles’ struggles. “When we got a good serve receive pass, we couldn’t get a set. When we got a good set, we couldn’t get a kill. And when we couldn’t get a pass, we couldn’t do anything with it; we might get a ball over the net, but they’d just return something that we couldn’t keep alive.”

The Rockets’ stellar defense was on full display. Every point seemed to have a different Rock Falls player diving for a dig to keep the ball alive, and setters Witherow and Lecaj turned the hustle-play passes into assists for the hitters.

“A big part of it, honestly, is communication. We’ve struggled with communication, especially over the summer, but this game showed a lot of our progress with it,” Lombardo said. “It also helps at practice that we’re even having our middles play defense, diving all over the court, so I think it helps that the whole team trusts each other when we’re all over the court on defense.”

It was the first win for new head coach Jolene Bickett, the former assistant who took over after Sheila Pillars retired following last season after 26 years and the Rockets’ first trip to the state finals.

Several Rockets stuffed the stat sheet. Lecaj finished with 10 kills, 12 assists and nine digs, while Witherow had five kills, 10 assists, nine points and six digs, and Lombardo added 10 digs, 14 points, two aces and four assists. Reyna had six kills and a block, Hackbarth chipped in four kills and a block, and Valdivia (seven points, three aces, six digs) and Masini (five digs) both contributed strong performances in the back row.

“We love it when everybody plays well like that,” Masini said. “It’s definitely really nice having a lot of really good, key players on the court. We really, really trust each other, and in the moment when we make a play, the feeling is amazing no matter which one of us does it.

“In that third set, I think we all just realized that we wanted this more than them, so we just put the work in and got it done.”

Arnott led Dunlap with seven kills to go with six points and two aces, and Becca Lopez added 14 digs, six kills, five points and two aces. Veronica Lopez dished 11 assists, Caroline Holmes had 10 assists and two kills, and Roberts spiked six kills. Natalie Olson chipped in six digs, and Sadie Siwicki served five points, including a pair of aces.