Jeff Chaney
Sports Scene
*Last year, the Rockford volleyball team had a season to remember.
The Rams finished with an impressive 60-8 record and the program’s first Class A state championship.
But graduation hit Rockford hard. The Rams lost six starters, all of whom are now playing college volleyball, including two in the Big Ten – Andrea Kacsits at Ohio State University and Halle Peterson at Michigan State University.
So Rockford coach Kelly Delacher knew the 2012 season would be a rebuilding year.
“We are a very young team,” Delacher said. “We only have one returning starter in Avery Punches, who is a senior middle hitter. We also have two other seniors in Taylor Jezak and Amanda Glaza. Taylor plays opposite hitter and Amanda is the libero, but we are young.”
The young players need to step up and keep the tradition going, and the six juniors and one sophomore on the team have been doing that at times.
The Rams have played well at times, posting a 16-13 overall record. They are 0-1 in the tough OK Red Conference, after dropping their first match to conference perennial power East Kentwood September 20.
On September 15, Rockford took second at the tournament it hosted, losing to Farmington Hills Mercy in the finals.
And earlier in the season, the Rams won the East Kentwood Mini Tournament.
“We play a very tough schedule, and we have been up and down,” Delacher said. “We knocked off the No. 1 team in Class A in Mattawan, and the No. 1 team in Class B in Forest Hills Eastern, so the potential is there. We have moments where we play great, we are just working on that consistency.”
Delacher hopes that the maturation continues, and he thinks his team will be ready when the postseason begins.
“As a coach, you just want your kids to improve from the beginning of the year to the end of the year and put them in position to make a good run at the end of the year,” he said. “We want to finish high in the OK Red, and the conference is very competitive. And then we want to see what happens in the state tournament.”
*The west side of the state has always been deep in the sport of volleyball, and this year is no different. Forest Hills Eastern is the top-ranked team in Class B and won the prestigious West Michigan Volleyball Officials Association Invitational at East Kentwood. One of the other perennial powers in the area, East Grand Rapids, won a huge match in the OK White last week, beating conference foe Grand Rapids Christian in four games. The Pioneers are ranked in the Top 10 in Class B. “We are a very close team; we have good chemistry,” senior outside hitter Micah Scott said after the Christian win. “I love to be out there playing with my teammates.”
*We had a Tom Izzo sighting in Grand Rapids. The Michigan State University men’s basketball coach was at the Hudsonville-Grand Rapids Christian football game to check out prized recruit Drake Harris, who plays wide receiver for Christian. Harris, who will play football and basketball for the Spartans, did not disappoint his future coach. He caught two touchdown passes, including one right in front of him, in the 59-13 rout of Hudsonville.
*Staying with the Christian football program, the area has had some great quarterbacks, including Justin Chopp at Forest Hills Central, Jake Brown at Comstock Park, and Titan Anderson at Lowell, but what the Grand Rapids Christian quarterback is doing so far this season is nothing short of amazing. Alex Van de Vusse has led the Eagles to a 3-1 record, with the one loss being by one touchdown to Archbishop Moeller of Cincinnati, the 12th-ranked team in the nation. Van de Vusse has been incredible and efficient. In the Eagles’ 59-13 trouncing of Hudsonville, he threw for 305 yards and five touchdowns, all in the first half.
*Don’t look now, but Unity Christian has another good soccer team. The Crusaders, whose girls’ team has won seven Class B state titles and has had three runner-up finishes and whose boys’ team has won two state titles and has had two runner-up finishes in the past decade, has another solid boys’ team this fall. The boys have won 10 of their first 11 games, including a big win over rival Grand Rapids Christian earlier this month. Coach Randy Heethuis is getting production from all over his roster, including senior midfielder Stephan Hooker.