MUSKEGON TOWNSHIP – The Fruitport volleyball team is very good, but the one-loss-and-done state tournament is nerve-wracking and first-game butterflies can affect any squad.

That’s what the Trojans had to overcome on Thursday in a three-set victory over Whitehall in their first match of districts, when they started off slowly and had to battle to gain control.

Fruitport fell behind by five points in a shaky first set, then pulled together and won the match by scores of 25-18, 25-15, 25-13 at Orchard View High School.

The victory allowed the Trojans to advance to Saturday’s Division 2 district championship match against Montague, which won Thursday’s other semifinal match.

The title match will be played at OV at 11 a.m.

The Trojans will be hunting for their second trophy of the season, after capturing the O-K Silver conference championship a little over a week ago.

They will be also be trying to capture their second district title in three years, after winning one back back in 2022.

“I am very excited,” said Fruitport Coach Nicole Bayle about playing in the district finals again. “I’m happy that these girls are going to have the opportunity. They are a great group who have worked very hard all season. (A championship) would be an awesome exclamation point to a great regular season.”

The way Thursday’s match started, some Fruitport fans probably started wondering if their team would get the chance to play in the district finals.

A fired-up Whitehall squad played the Trojans point-for-point early on, then took five of six points to grab a 12-7 lead.

That’s when the Trojans called a time out, calmed themselves down and stopped the bleeding.

The score was tied four more times – 12-12, 13-13, 14-14 and 15-15 – then Fruitport won 10 of the last 13 points to ice the set.

Coach Bayle, a veteran of many postseason matches, said her team, despite all of its success this season,0 was hit with a case of postseason nerves and just needed to calm down and play its game.

“I sort of expected it,” the coach said. “The pressure and the reality of a season-ending game is a real thing for kids, and I knew we were going to experience some of that weird nervousness at first.

“We talked and just said, ‘We’re through with that now. We know what it feels like and we’re ready to play for the win.’ I was just happy to get that nervousness out of the way.”

The second and third sets were much easier for the Trojans, who were never seriously challenged the rest of the way.

They took control with their superior power game, passing and defense – as well as an array of perfectly-placed softer shots that found open spots on the court and fell in for points.

Bayle said those finesse points have been a real plus for the Trojans all season.

“It’s a huge part of our style of play,” she said. “We work a lot on outsmarting defenses and being unpredictable. We’re probably not going to outpower a lot of teams. We have to find the openings. We just try to play against the grain sometimes and make defenses moves outside of what they are used to doing.”

Sadie Haase led the Fruitport attack with 14 kills, Ellie Stroup added nine, Gracelynn Olson had eight and Isabel Hanson-Wilbur chipped in six.

Olson had 25 assists and Haase served five aces.

Defensively, Tara Sweet had 14 digs, followed by Hanson-Wilbur (13), Olson (11) and Emma Fecher (10).