MUSKEGON TWP. - The Reeths-Puffer volleyball team is facing some big challenges, to be sure.
After a promising start to the season, the Rockets have encountered some serious injury issues. They’ve also started playing opponents in a brutally competitive O-K Green conference that features four state-ranked teams.
But even with challenges, you still have to play with victory in mind. That mentality is what R-P head coach Justin Birr thinks his team may be missing right now.
Birr watched his Rockets fall 3-0 to Byron Center on Thursday in a home O-K Green match. The set scores were 25-22, 25-12, 25-15.
R-P's Aubree Wilks (16) dives to keep the ball in play in front of Chloe Brainard (3). Photo/Jeremy Clark
The team fell to 8-10 overall on the season and 0-3 in conference play.
Few expected Reeths-Puffer to win. The Rockets are missing two of their top players, outside hitter Maddie Snyder and setter Grace Darke, who are both out indefinitely with injuries.
On top of that, Byron Center is an honorable mention team in the Division 2 state rankings. Two other teams in the conference, Mona Shores and Caledonia, are also honorable mention, while Jenison is ranked No. 2 in the state.
As Birr put it, “It’s pretty crazy for one conference to have four teams at that level. We have our work cut out for us.”
But the coach wants his players to keep the same mentality they had a few weeks ago, when they won their eighth match of the season and surpassed their victory total from a very tough 2023.
R-P's Hailey Johnsen (13) and Alissa Klopp (14) go up for a block. Photo/Jeremy Clark
He didn’t see many signs of that sort of competitiveness on Thursday, and knows it has to be there for the Rockets to make any progress.
“This is a good group of girls, but I think the expectation last year was ‘let’s just try to compete,’ and this year the expectation is ‘let’s try to win," Birr said. "I think that mental shift, for some of them, is happening, and for others it still needs to happen.
“Nobody should feel okay with a moral victory. Tonight was not a moral victory, and everybody should be a little upset.
“The competitive mindset has to come into it. I think we’re getting there.”
Maddi Dyer (2) sets up Mairyn Peterson (12) for a kill. Photo/Jeremy Clark
The Rockets put up a good fight in the first set. They maintained a small lead early in the match, lost it and fell behind 21-15, then had a spirited comeback.
They scored five straight points, led by a kill from Alyssa Klopp and two service aces by Maddi Dyer, and pulled to within one point at 21-20.
Byron Center scored the next point, then R-P scored on a block by Hailey Johnsen and pulled within a point again at 22-21.
Byron Center won three of the next four points, however, and captured the set.
The second and third sets were not very competitive, with Byron Center taking early leads and cruising to the easy win.
Klopp (14) tries to get the ball past two Byron Center players at the net. Photo/Jeremy Clark
“They have more options offensively than we have right now,” Birr said. “In the second and third sets we did not pass well. When we pass well we can run our offense and terminate the ball. When we don’t we’re predictable and give then easy balls.
“When you don’t put a challenging ball over the net, you’re not going to compete with a team like that.”
Mairyn Peterson led the Rockets with five kills. Dyer had 13 assists and three aces.
Defensively, Chloe Brainard had seven digs.