It was a busy day for local squads Saturday at the Fruitport Invitational, as Whitehall, Montague and Reeths-Puffer were all in action.
Of the three, the Rockets enjoyed the most success, taking home the Silver bracket championship by beating Coopersville in a three-game finals thriller, 18-25, 25-17, 18-16. That capped off a 3-2 day for them; R-P also beat local foe Whitehall in the semifinals, 25-14, 25-9, after going 1-2 in pool action.
R-P (8-8) picked up a close win over Montague in pool play, 28-26, 25-21, losing matches to Mona Shores (25-12, 25-19) and North Muskegon (25-13, 25-22).
Kate Tindall passed out 87 assists for R-P on the day, and Mairyn Peterson led with 27 kills and a .230 hitting percentage. Lexie Danz was just behind her, with 24 kills and a .229 hitting percentage. Carlee Bowen had 41 digs to pace the Rocket defense.
"I thought we battled hard all day, and all 11 of our girls contributed in meaningful ways," R-P coach Justin Birr said. "We do not have a 'superstar' on this team, and sometimes that may hurt us offensively. With that said, this is the most complete team I have coached in several years. It is visible during our practices, which helps us win close games."
Birr was impressed with his Rockets' response to adversity from Thursday through Saturday, a span in which three different coaches acted as head coach due to various circumstances that included an injury to Birr's son and an assistant coach's wedding.
"Our girls fought through a late bus, coaching changes, and more and still brought their best effort on Thursday and brought that tenacity with them on Saturday," Birr said.
Montague and Whitehall each struggled to 0-4 marks at the invitational, though the Wildcats played solidly overall. In addition to the close loss to R-P, the Wildcats also took a game off North Muskegon before falling short in pool play, 25-22, 13-25, 15-13, and also took Coopersville to three games in the Silver bracket semifinals, losing 25-23, 24-26, 15-10. Another pool play match against Mona Shores ended in a 25-10, 25-10 loss.
Gentry Knop had a good day for the Wildcats (0-8), totaling 39 digs and 13 aces to lead the team in both categories. Annelyse Schneider paced the offense with 18 kills, and Emalee McGee added 15. McGee also had 46 assists.
Whitehall (0-9) dropped pool-play matches to Fruitport (25-17, 25-19), Gull Lake (25-9, 25-6) and Coopersville (25-15, 25-18), then fell to the Rockets in bracket play. The team struggled to convert offensive chances, posting a .000 hitting percentage, and had 20 service errors on the day. Mayson Milliron and Delaney Kramer led the defense with 17 digs apiece, and Kramer and Ryleigh Smith each had three aces. Kramer also paced the attackers with 11 kills, and Lou Mulder had 34 assists.
