COMSTOCK PARK – The Fruitport volleyball team got a taste of how exciting a long state tournament run can be over the past two weeks.

The Trojans battled from behind to gain exciting victories in the district semifinals and finals, and again in Tuesday’s regional semifinals.

Everyone was buzzing about how the young Trojans were starting to mature and show their talent.

Their exciting run came to an end on Thursday night in a 3-0 loss to Grand Rapids West Catholic in a Division 2 regional final match at Comstock Park High School. The set scores were 25-20, 25-17, 25-8.

Fruitport’s Sadie Haase serves the ball. Photo/Andrew Johnson

The outcome was sad for the Fruitport seniors who ended their varsity careers, but the tournament experience left the many underclassmen on the team hungry for more.

Fruitport will return eight of its 12 players next year, and now they’ve been battle-tested and know how to handle tournament pressure.

Who knows what they might accomplish next year?

“It’s huge,” said Fruitport Coach Nicole Bayle about the benefits of the tournament run. “It’s huge for the kids to get a taste of this and the community to get a taste of this. For us to be back on the main stage and competing is huge. We have two freshmen and three sophomores that all got to feel this. This will be what they expect for the future, and I love that.”

Haase tries to get a shot past two West Catholic blockers. Photo/Andrew Johnson

While Fruitport’s future may be bright, Thursday night was difficult for the Trojans.

West Catholic jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the first set before Fruitport battled back to cut its deficit to 9-8. Then the Falcons went on a run, increasing their lead to 18-12 and finally winning 25-20.

The second set was tied 5-5 before West Catholic went on a 13-6 run to take an 18-11 lead. The Falcons ultimately clinched a 25-17 victory by winning seven of the final 13 points.

The Falcons jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the third set, Bayle called time out, but the strategy didn’t work. West Catholic won 11 of the next 15 points and cruised to a 25-8 win to clinch the match.

Fruitport’s Gracelynn Olson sets up a shot for teammate Hope Straley (7). Photo/Andrew Johnson

Sadie Haase and Auebre Johnson each had four kills for Fruitport while Gracelynn Olson totaled 13 assists.

Kayla Kolberg led the Trojan defense with 20 digs while Olson added 11.

Fruitport finished the season with a 17-26 record.

“We were kind of off tonight,” Bayle said “We didn’t control our first contact. Then when we got an opportunity to take care of the ball, we didn’t do a good job of seeing the block. We had a quite a few unforced errors tonight.

“But we’ve been on a great run, and I don’t want to take anything from the great things these kids have done over the last four games.”