Rock Falls just kept fighting, scratching, clawing and scrambling to keep points alive and string them together for key surges.

The scrappy Rockets never quit, even when in a nine-point hole to open the third set, and were rewarded with a 20-25, 25-16, 25-22 victory over Rockford Christian in their penultimate Big Northern Conference match Wednesday at Tabor Gym.

Rock Falls (17-11, 5-3 BNC) notched its fourth straight win – seventh in its last eight matches – by rallying from deficits of 11-2 and 20-15 in the decisive third set.

“I feel like we just know what we need to do as individuals to try and help the team, and I think that just started to click with everyone,” junior libero Isela Valdivia said. “We said, ‘OK, let’s go, next-ball mentality, doesn’t matter what the score is, what we’ve done up to now; everyone hits, everyone goes hard. We’re fine.’

“We just needed to try to help one another and all come back collectively as a team to try to make everyone better.”

Bre Dallgas-Frey had an ace, and Taylor Segneri had a kill in a 5-0 run after falling behind 11-2. Then a block and a kill from Segneri ignited the final surge. Kaltrina Lecaj had a block and three kills in a seven-point span to help turn a 20-15 deficit into a 22-21 lead, and consecutive hitting errors by the Royal Lions put the Rockets at match point.

Lecaj then tooled one final kill off the block to finish the victory.

“We knew going into the third set that we weren’t coming in to lay an egg. We really wanted to go in and play hard. We felt like we had a shot against this team, and we just wanted to give it our all,” sophomore setter Miley Bickett said. “I knew I had to mix it up with all our hitters to throw off their blocking, and on defense we just had to go out and get our hands on everything.”

The back row set the tone for the Rockets, and it was a group effort. Lecaj, Valdivia and Bickett each had 12 digs, and Dallgas-Frey, Averie Payne and Jazmine Tarbill each added five. Coach Jolene Bickett also lauded the team’s blocking, as Addison Miller stuffed three of them, and Lecaj, Segneri, Ari Reyna and Kayla Hackbarth each added a block.

“We have been working a lot, because our bread and butter is our blocking, and we’ve got to use it to our advantage,” Coach Bickett said. “Then our back row was everywhere, and that leads to good passes that lead to good sets that lead to our offense finishing.”

Offensively, Lecaj had 12 kills and three aces, Reyna and Segneri each added four kills, and Miller and Hackbarth smacked three kills apiece. Bickett dished 22 assists, Dallgas-Frey served 10 points and four aces, and Julia Renner reeled off six straight points down the stretch to put away the third set.

“We just kind of try and pump each other up, make everyone shine, and just try to give everyone the opportunity they deserve,” said Valdivia, who also dished three assists and served two aces. “We just work together as a team, we try and help one another, and if anyone’s down, we try to help them back up.”

“It was amazing to see that trust with our team and know we can just rely on everybody to be there when we need them,” Bickett added. “There’s nobody we can’t trust out there; everybody is always making plays when they get a chance, and we’re always fighting for it together.”

Clemson commit Maddie Anspaugh led Rockford Christian (23-4, 6-2 BNC) with 18 kills and 10 points, Julia Irvin dished 30 assists to go with 16 digs, and libero Josephine Baker led the defense with 26 digs. Allison Lynde had six kills and a block, Teagan Lawver added four kills and three blocks, and Shea Ludwig spiked three kills for Rockford Christian.

The outcome allowed Dixon to clinch at least a share of the BNC title, as the Duchesses (7-0) are the only undefeated team left in the conference. Rockford Christian (6-2), Byron (5-2) and Genoa-Kingston (5-2) are each two matches behind in the loss column. Dixon, Byron and G-K all have two matches to play, while the Royal Lions only have one more conference match.