John Raffel
Sports Scene
Rockford made the best of its first appearance in the Class A volleyball state finals.
The Rams exploded past Lake Orion 25-21, 25-23, 25-10 in the title match on November 19 at Battle Creek’s Kellogg Arena for Rockford’s first state title in the sport.
The first two games were closely contested, although the Rams rallied to take the second set. In the third game, it was all Rockford.
The Rams attack offense was just too much for Lake Orion to overcome. Rockford had 49 kills compared to 27 for Lake Orion. The champs had a 15-5 kill advantage in the final game. Rockford also led in digs 54-41 and assists 40-27.
Halle Peterson, a senior setter, had a strong offensive game with 36 assists. Rockford was mighty at the net with 14 kills from Jessica Majerle, 11 from Murphy Heyer, and 10 apiece from Andrea Kacsits and Avery Punches.
“It’s the most exciting thing in the world right now,” Peterson said. “It hasn’t sunk in yet. It’s so exciting to know we have worked so hard. We’re young and we’ve all played together since middle school.”
Winning the second game against Lake Orion was critical, Peterson acknowledged.
“We knew if we got that game, we would come out strong in the third,” she said. “We really worked hard for it. It all paid off.”
“That was so important,” Kacsits agreed. “It’s such a mental game, volleyball in particular. It they would have won that game, I think it would have been a much harder journey.”
But winning the third game “gave us adrenaline, confidence, momentum to supply us,” said Kacsits.
The third game was probably “the best” her team has played all season, Peterson pointed out.
“We were digging everything and were blocking,” she said. “It finally all came together, the last game of our last match.”
Heyer added 15 digs for Rockford, while Majerle had eight and Peterson seven.
Rockford beat Bedford 25-22, 25-14, 25-20 in the semifinals and had previously topped Gull Lake 25-20, 25-21, 23-25, 25-17.
“When I first saw them play as seventh and eighth graders, I knew it was going to be a special class,” said coach Kelly Delacher, who is in his seventh season as skipper. “You set a goal at the beginning of the season, and to see it come to fruition, it’s a great feeling.”
Kacsits said her team started thinking about a state title during the first practice.
Against Lake Orion, “I was expecting a battle from them,” Delacher said. “We wanted to focus on one point at a time and stay in the moment. We did a good job of that.”
The Rams ended the season at 60-8.
“This is a special group, like I said,” Delacher said. “I wouldn’t be able to do it without talented athletes. It’s a great experience for everybody.”
“It was really exciting,” Peterson said. “We talked about [a state title] a little bit at the beginning of the year. But once the playoffs come, our goal was to go to Battle Creek. Everyone is tough and we knew we had to take it one step at a time.”
Kacsits wasn’t quite sure if the state title achievement had sunk in as she celebrated with her teammates after the game.
She added that any contention the third game was Rockford’s best of the season “was arguably close. We did what we needed to do,” she said. “We talked together to work it out.
“We’re generally not a third-game team. But we came out strong and it couldn’t have been a better way to end the season.”
The Rams made a believer out of Lake Orion coach Bob Hewey.
“Rockford was just unreal, I thought,” he said. “You can’t really ask for much more. Our whole run has been great.”