MUSKEGON — Reeths-Puffer hoped that Thursday might create an opportunity to make some noise against one of the O-K Green Conference's beastly top quartet, but a slow start for the Rocket attack snowballed on them and led to a three-game defeat, 25-7, 25-16, 25-9.
It took very little time for the visiting Sailors to take command of the match behind top-hitting sisters Maddie and Laynie Russell, and they grabbed an early 10-1 lead. The Rockets tried to stem the tide by calling an early timeout, but errors and the Sailors' offensive efficiency created a bad situation for R-P.
"I think that flat start hurt us, but
it even seemed like in warmups we were a little bit off," Rockets' coach Justin Birr said. "We have to
come out with more energy from the start. We just never quite had that.
That was probably the least energetic group I've seen from us this
season, which says something about
who our opponent is, how they can kind of get into our heads sometimes."
Birr said his Rockets (15-13, 1-3 O-K Green) are not often intimidated by conference opponents despite how good many of them are, but because of Shores' geographic proximity and the experience many of the players on both sides have playing with and against one another, Shores sometimes is the exception. It doesn't help that the Russells are 6-2, and the Rockets simply don't have anyone that can match that physical advantage.
Reeths-Puffer's Kate Tindall (left) sets the ball as Peyton Radel lines up to go for an attack during Thursday's match against Mona Shores. R-P dropped a 3-0 decision.
"I don't think
we can simulate how tall they are in practice," Birr said. "I think that just
freaked us out too much. You've got to have that mentality of, you're
going to get blocked. Then, you've got to overcome that. They're going
to block more than anybody else because of
how tall they are."
R-P played much better in game two, limiting the errors and forcing Mona Shores to win it outright. Despite a 6-0 serving run by Kate Tindall that got the Rockets to within 21-16 and included a couple of aces, the Sailors were able to do it.
Game three was all Shores from the start, and the Rockets were left to wonder why they weren't able to compete as closely with their rivals as they did at an invitational in Fruitport, where Shores won a tighter two-game match.
"We definitely had higher expectations than what we showed tonight," Birr said. "We
definitely didn't show our full potential tonight...They didn't do anything different (than the match in Fruitport). We just didn't
execute."
No Rocket managed more than four kills, with Abby Machinski and Peyton Radel tying for the team lead. Tindall had nine assists, and Carlee Bowen recorded eight digs.
In an ideal world, Birr said, R-P would have some tournaments and quads to build confidence and bounce back mentally from the defeat, but the Rockets will have no choice but to do it a different way; their next two matches are against two more league titans, Byron Center and Jenison.
"It's almost like,
forget this night," Birr said. "I mean, be mad about it
internally. Think about your game and your play, but...don't be angry at
your teammates. Mentally, shove this aside, work on a couple things.
We'll work on
some things in practice, but I think to overcome it, we've just got to
find some more success in our next matches."
