Volleyball: Rock Falls overcomes slow start to top Mendota

ROCK FALLS – Thanks in large part to Jenna O’Donnell’s serves, the Mendota Spikers were able to build an early lead in the first set of the Big Northern Conference Tournament semifinal on Wednesday at Tabor Gym.

Thanks in large part to Jaelyn Fitzgerald’s hitting, the Spikers built a lead early in the second set as well.

But both times Rock Falls answered, using a balanced attack to claim a 25-21, 25-21 win to move on to the conference tournament championship game.

“We always start slow, and once we build up our momentum and energy – because it’s kind of meh – then we start to get into the game more,” Rock Falls freshman setter Denali Stonitsch said. “Then we cheer each other on and play our hearts out until the end.”

Helping Rock Falls (18-2) rally in the first set were a series of Spikers miscues. Mendota led 12-10 before a hit into the net, a pass into the net, a hit going long and a double-hit violation helped Rock Falls pull ahead 14-12.

Nine Rockets points in the first set and eight more in the second came off Mendota miscues.

“We just talked to them about taking care of the ball,” Mendota coach Nicci Gibson said. “I think that was the turning point in the first game, we were just making way too many errors that we were giving them points. We always say make the other team earn points, and they were getting some, but we were giving them way too many.”

In the second set, a 10-4 Mendota lead started to fade when Claire Bickett and Nicolette Udell came up with back-to-back kills. After a hit into the net and a lift call on Mendota made it a two-point game, the teams traded miscues and the Spikers were able to build the lead back to 12-9. But after a Mendota hit went out, Mallory Pinske came up with a block and a kill on back-to-back points to tie it.

Rock Falls eventually led 18-14 before Mendota rallied back to get within one.

Back-to-back kills by Udell made it 21-18 Rockets, but Lauren Martin responded by tooling the Rock Falls block, starting a run of three straight points for Mendota to tie the score.

Rock Falls closed out the second set strong, however, as Udell had a kill and an ace, and Pinske finished it with back-to-back kills.

“In both sets we really kept our composure, knowing we were going to come back and hopefully tie it up,” Rock Falls coach Sheila Pillars said. “That’s what happened, and we just kept the momentum. I was proud of them.”

Rock Falls got 23 assists from Stonitsch, dealing out 12 kills for Pinske, eight for Bickett and seven for Udell.

“I think they were all doing great when they were doing the faster-paced set,” Stonitsch said. “I try to communicate with them as much as I can. When they do worse than they are capable of, I try to push them to what they are capable of.”

Rock Falls also got 13 digs from Bickett and Cara Goff. Freshman libero Carli Kobbeman had nine digs.

In a season where so much of the Rock Falls lineup has been in flux, the libero position has seen as much upheaval as anywhere. With senior Haylee Herrera in quarantine, Pillars split the role for a time between Kobbeman and fellow freshman Sophia Moeller, with Kobbeman playing well enough to establish herself in the role.

“Her confidence is growing, and it’s super nice,” Pillars said. “This is kind of a new role for her. She would normally DS, and in JV she had to play outside, she was kind of a Jack-of-all-trades. She and Sophia Moeller were kind of going back and forth, and I kind of gave Carli the nod because she’s a tad quicker, and today she was awesome. She passed phenomenally. Nothing to take away from Sophia, she’s been phenomenal too. Lucky to have the young ones getting this experience.”

Fitzgerald led the Spikers with eight kills, down from the 10 she had when the teams met in the regular season. Four of her kills came in the first seven points of the second set, helping Mendota jump out to a 5-2 lead.

Martin had four kills and eight digs. Ella Massey had 15 assists for Mendota.

The Spikers (10-6) got 10 digs from O’Donnell, but the real damage she did was from the service line, where she had four aces, three of them in the first seven points of the first set.

“She’s got a great jump float,” Gibson said. “So we just told her to attack the ball as far as serving goes, serve tough and hit her spots.”