FRUITPORT – The Fruitport volleyball team may have fallen to 0-7 in the incredibly tough O-K Blue conference with a four-set loss to Hamilton on Thursday, but the Trojans’ steady improvement is showing.

Fruitport lost to Hamilton 25-23, 22-25, 25-20 and 25-14, but the match was hard fought through the first four sets.

“We’ve made some awesome gains,” said Fruitport head coach Nicole Bayle, whose team performed better than it did in a loss to Hamilton on Tuesday. “Hamilton is a good, big, physical team. We just played them on Tuesday, and we actually played way better today. For me, that’s what I’m looking for is those big adjustments and improvements.”

In the first set, Hamilton jumped out to a 15-10 lead before the Trojans fought back and cut the deficit to just 23-22.

Fruitport’s Emma Danicek tries to get a shot past two Hamilton blockers. Photo/Jeremy Clark

However, Hamilton won two of the final three points to close out the win.

In the second set, Fruitport won the first point and never looked back, leading the entire set and holding on for a 25-22 victory.

On the first point of the third set, Fruitport was called for a violation and gave Hamilton a 1-0 lead.

The Trojans struggled to recover, falling behind 8-2 to open the crucial third set.

Fruitport’s Izabel Hanson-Wilbur goes high for a shot. Photo/Jeremy Clark

“We have to get better at not dwelling on things we don’t understand,” said Bayle about her team failing to bounce back immediately. “I have a bunch of smart kids on my team who want to know why all the time. Sometimes we have to be better at moving on and not always getting the call we think we’re going to get.

“We have to be able to reset and keep going while not thinking about something that happened two plays ago.”

The Trojans did respond eventually, cutting the deficit to 19-17 before Hamilton ultimately pulled away to take the set 25-20.

The fourth and final set was all Hamilton as the Hawkeyes cruised to a rather easy 25-14 victory.

Fruitport’s Lauren Riedel leaps to make a serve. Photo/Jeremy Clark

Sadie Haase led the Trojans with 12 kills on the night while Izabel Hanson-Wilber had seven kills in the loss.

Setter Gracelynn Olson totaled 19 assists, 18 digs and two aces while Lauren Riedel totaled 15 digs.

The Trojans are now 8-13 overall and will next travel to Byron Center for an invitational on Saturday, which will be a nice break from conference play.

“This is a team that isn’t even first,” Bayle said when asked about Hamilton and the tough O-K Blue conference. “They’ve dropped some sets. Our conference is super strong from top to bottom, and it does make it a little disheartening for our kids to work and play at such a high level and still not be able to win. But it helps us in the long run.”