Rock Falls volleyball earns confidence-boosting win over Stillman Valley

ROCK FALLS – Extra energy on the road has been hard to come by at times this season for the Rock Falls volleyball team.

That was not an issue on Tuesday night at Tabor Gym.

Playing their last home match of the season with a pink-out theme, the Rockets secured a Big Northern Conference win over Stillman Valley 25-19, 25-21.

Rock Falls (12-12, 3-3 BNC) evened its record with the win over the Cardinals (13-10-1, 4-2) during homecoming week.

Rock Falls junior Kayla Hackbarth said the energy of the crowd and student section in particular helped boost the team’s mood and confidence as it held off Stillman Valley’s late pushes to earn the sweep. The middle hitter finished with six kills.

“I think with it being the homecoming game and stuff, the student section was really big, and we were communicating really well, moving the ball around,” she said. “And we had good defense, good sets and good hits.

“It was a pretty big win because I think overall we just played really good.”

Rock Falls got out to a 12-6 lead in the first set to force a Stillman Valley timeout. The Cardinals cut into Rock Falls’ lead, trailing 23-18 before the Rockets closed it out.

Stillman Valley led the second set, 4-1, before Rock Falls responded with a 13-1 run. The Cardinals made a run of their own after trailing 19-11, coming back to make the deficit 21-20. Rock Falls took advantage of some errors to help close out the win.

Rock Falls coach Jolene Bickett said it was a meaningful game for the team’s five seniors in Kacie Witherow, Elizabeth Lombardo, Carolyn Masini, Zoey Schueler and Taylor Segneri.

“This was a big challenge for them,” she said. “I thought if we could play with them and even beat them, that’s the confidence that we need to continue to move into the postseason.”

Bickett said her middle hitters have been working hard on blocking and hitting corners.

“I thought both Addie [Miller] and Kayla [Hackbarth] came up huge tonight,” she said. “Miley [Bickett] and Elizabeth [Lombardo] owned the back row. ... And then the others just filled in and did their job. Everybody was clicking tonight.”

Kaltrina Lecaj had six kills and five digs and Bickett, a freshman, led the team with 14 assists and 10 digs. Lombardo also chipped in five digs and 15 points.

After losing eight seniors from last year’s third-place state finisher, this year’s group has had to forge a new path together during an up-and-down season record-wise.

“It was hard losing a bunch of seniors, but we put people in different positions and I think it just worked out pretty well,” Hackbarth said. “It took awhile, but we’ve got it figured out.”

Rock Falls has at least four more road matches to close out the regular season before starting the postseason in Class 2A.

“Hopefully we’re clicking at the right time,” coach Bickett said. “We needed this big win. We needed this win to prove that we are as good as what we think we are.”

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