Volleyball: State dream comes true for Rock Falls

SANDWICH – It’s been a long time coming for the Rock Falls volleyball team, but the Rockets and veteran coach Sheila Pillars have made it.

In her 26th and final season, Pillars’ team just doesn’t want the ride to end and they played like it Friday night in the Class 2A Sandwich Supersectional.

[ Photos of Rock Falls vs. Chicago Christian volleyball 2A supersectional ]

The Rockets rolled to a 25-9, 25-21 victory over Chicago Christian, sending Pillars to state for the first time. It’s the first trip for Rock Falls to the state finals in volleyball since back-to-back trips in 1974 and 1975, the second and third years the state tournament was in existence.

“It doesn’t feel real,” senior outside Nicolette Udell said. “I was sitting on the bench thinking, ‘I don’t even know what’s going on right now.’ It’s just crazy and amazing, and it’s just not real yet.”

“I think it was definitely meant to be,” senior setter Denali Stonitsch said. “We definitely came here for a reason. It’s our last hurrah with our coach and for ourselves, and I feel like it definitely was like fate for us to do this.”

Claire Bickett slammed 11 kills and added six digs; Stonitsch finished with 21 assists, seven points, six digs and an ace; and Udell finished the match with authority, spiking her sixth kill directly to the floor in the middle of the Knights’ defense to set off an epic and long-awaited celebration.

“It’s amazing. We’ve been talking about it since eighth grade. We wanted it. It’s our senior year, and we got it,” senior libero Carli Kobbeman said. “I told Nicolette earlier today, her hits are just straight power, and I knew that play was going to be it. I knew it was going down. I knew we had it won, and she just pounded it.”

Bickett got them to the finish line, ripping four kills down the stretch to put the Rockets (34-6) up 24-20 in the second set. After a sideout by Chicago Christian, Udell rotated into the front row, and after another perfect pass – Rock Falls’ serve receive was terrific all match – Stonitsch launched the set to the outside, and Udell hammered the final nail in the Knights’ coffin.

“I looked at Denali, and we got that connection. I was just looking at her like, ‘Set me, I’m going to kill it.’ That was just the plan. Don’t think about anything, just kill the ball,” Udell said. “That’s what you dream about, but it’ still just crazy. We’ve just worked so hard for so long, and I never would’ve thought that I would be the one to get the kill to end it.”

Rock Falls got rolling from the start, as the veteran squad that’s used to big matches handled its nerves better than the Knights. After a 2-2 tie in the first set, the Rockets scored 13 of the next 14 points on a few kills and aces, but mostly on Chicago Christian errors, to take a 15-3 lead. Bickett had two kills around a pair of Zoe Henson aces, and the teams traded errors over the final six points.

“I think we felt like we couldn’t treat this as bigger than any other game we’ve been in. All postseason games, it’s win or you go home, so coming into this one, we just had to settle down,” Bickett said. “It’s no bigger than the ones we’ve been in before, and I think that’s really what led us to that big start in the first game.

“I think we really got in the flow, emphasized serving the ball hard, and I think that’s exactly what gave us the opportunity to put the ball away when we were given a free ball back.”

The Rockets feasted with the Knights (23-17) out of system for most of the first set, and when a ball did come back over the net, Kobbeman (5 digs, 4 points), Henson (5 points, 2 aces), Sophia Moeller (7 digs, 9 points, 2 aces) and company made sure the offense got in rhythm with some stellar passing from the back row.

“We were lucky enough to get them out of system with our serves, and then I feel like they got really frustrated when we were able to return everything they gave us, and we just shut them down in the first set,” Kobbeman said. “Then in the second set, they wanted it and came back strong, which we knew was going to happen, and we got a little rusty for a while. But you just keep going at it, keep pushing, keep trying to score a few points for every point they get.”

In the second set, Chicago Christian came out more composed. Kills by Kacie Witherow (2 kills, 2 digs) and Bickett and an ace by Moeller made it 10-6 Rock Falls, but the Knights rallied to tie the set 13-13 on kills by Quinn Grevengoed (8 kills) and Nikki Swiney (6 kills).

A kill by Tayah Johnson (3 kills) and a dump kill by setter Aydee Moes (19 assists, 2 dump kills) gave the Knights the lead at 15-14, but a block by senior middle Taylor Reyna (2 kills, 1 block) tied the set, and the Rockets pulled away from there.

“After that first set, I told the girls, ‘They’re going to come back with a vengeance. They have nothing to lose. Their season’s on the line right now, so you need to be ready,’” Pillars said. “For some reason, every second set we just kind of let up a little bit, then we kind of put on the gas again. I’m just super proud of my girls for pulling through and not letting this go three [sets].”

“That start was insane. We definitely came here ready to go, ready to play. We wanted to just crush it out there, and we definitely did in that first set,” Stonitsch said. “I feel like it was just our composure in the second set. We knew we had to fight through and we really wanted to win it in two sets. We wanted it so badly, and I feel like we definitely picked it up and communicated at the end, and that’s what won us the second set.”

The final point saw the Rockets form a dog pile in the middle of the court, and the scene got even crazier after the handshake line, as the players went over to the Rock Falls Rowdies student section to celebrate with them.

Pillars, who contemplated retiring after last season’s sectional final loss to eventual 2A state champion Genoa-Kingston, jumped up and down and hugged her assistant coaches as they all fought back tears.

“The first thing I said to Sheila when she came through after shaking hands was, ‘Aren’t you glad you stayed another year?’ She would’ve been really bummed if she left and we would’ve gone to state,” Bickett said. “It’s just really indescribable how this feels. We have a ton of seniors, our last year. We’ve been together forever, Sheila’s last year … it just really feels like it was meant to be, for sure. We do it all for her and each other, and it just feels really special.”

The ever-quotable Pillars wasn’t sure how to wrap her head around what had just happened.

“I have no words. When it first happened and my coaches grabbed me, I just couldn’t even think,” the veteran head coach said. “I’m just so proud of my team. It’s just so surreal. You want this so bad, and you don’t really have a lot of control, and the fact that these kids just played so hard … it means so much that they’re sending me out in style.”