The Reeths-Puffer volleyball team hit the court to start the season on Friday, and by the end of the long day the Rockets' coach was impressed.
R-P competed in the Coopersville Invitational and advanced all the way to the finals of the Silver Bracket before losing to Otsego.
Reeths-Puffer started the tournament with strong pool play, splitting sets with Forest Hills Eastern and Whitehall and dropping two sets to Rockford.
R-P's Allison McManus (3), Bille Tryska (8) and Lauren Nelson (5) get ready to defend.
That was good enough to give the Rockets a berth in the Sliver Bracket semifinals, and they beat Montague to advance to the title round.
R-P lost to Otsego 25-23, 25-20 in the bracket championship match.
The final loss was a little hard on R-P Coach Justin Birr, because his sister, Megan Birr, is the assistant coach of the Otsego squad.
Malaina Peterson (12) sets up a shot for Tryska.
“We were chit-chatting back and forth before and after the match,” Birr said. “She was nice afterward.”
Birr said he was very pleased with the progress his team made throughout the day.
“What I told the girls was that, from the start of the day to the end, we improved in every part of our game,” Birr said. “We had way better energy, we passed better, our offense was better. We definitely learned a lot.
R-P's Sophia Hekkema (10) dives to get a shot past a Forest Hills Eastern player.
“If we keep doing that each day, we will be on an upward trajectory.”
Madisyn Dykema paced the Rocket offense with 22 kills while serving up seven aces. She also had 35 digs. Billie Tryska totaled 15 kills and seven aces along with 24 digs and four blocks. Malaina Peterson chipped in nine kills.
Defensively Lauren Nelson had a very good day with 30 digs.
“She was a monster defensively, particularly in the back row,” Birr said.
