FRUITPORT – The Fruitport volleyball team is having another really good season, and Gracelynn Olson has been happy to see her team thrive again.
But it hasn’t been easy for Olson to sit on the bench and watch all the excitement without being part of it.
So she was thrilled to return in a very limited role on Thursday and help the Trojans come from behind and beat Calvin Christian in five grueling sets in an O-K Silver conference match at Fruitport.
Fruitport improved to 20-10-1 on the season and 5-0 in conference play.
[1]
[2]
Olson, an All-State setter, played a huge role last year in her junior season, helping Fruitport win an O-K Silver conference championship, district and regional titles and a berth in the Division 2 state quarterfinals.
She expected to be a major force again this season, but a severe offseason knee injury ruined those plans. She had surgery in July and was told her season was over well before it began, so she has just been sticking with her teammates, cheering them on, offering advice and helping in any way she can.
But as it turned out, Olson’s high school career was not completely over.
Fruitport head coach Nicole Bayle came up with the idea of having her serve a few times on Senior Night, which was Thursday against Calvin Christian. Olson had been practicing serves for the past few weeks, and her doctor and physical therapist approved the idea.
[3]
[4]
She did not do much. Olson simply took the court in her knee brace several times, served the ball, then immediately came out when the play was over. But it was all pretty cool, because one of her serves turned out to be an ace and an easy point for Fruitport, and she got the opportunity to be an active Trojan one more time.
The rest of the Trojans completed the special night by fighting past Calvin Christian 21-25, 25-21, 25-15, 22-25, 15-12.
“It was a lot of fun,” Olson said. “I was really excited. It felt really good to be home and to get an ace.”
When asked if she was nervous about playing again, Olson said “A little bit, but I’ve been playing volleyball my whole life, so I just took a deep breath and focused and I was fine.
“I have missed it so much. It’s my favorite sport, it makes me happy, and I’m sad that I don’t get to do it. But I’m happy to still be part of the team, and it was amazing to see them persevere through everything tonight and come out with a win.”
Winning the hard way
Nothing about Thursday’s victory was easy for the Trojans.
They jumped out to an early 11-5 lead in the first set and appeared to be ready to cruise to another easy conference win – then Calvin Christian came roaring back.
The Squires won 13 of the next 14 points to take a commanding 18-12 lead, and left the home Fruitport crowd stunned by stealing a 25-21 win.
[5]
[6]
“We got stuck in a rotation and gave up 10 or 12 points,” Coach Bayle said about Calvin Christian’s sudden run. “That’s been a bit of a hiccup for us this year, getting stuck in a spot and getting nervous and making errors. It’s something we’re working on.”
The Trojans rebounded and won a tight second set, which was tied six times, 25-21. Then they seemed to regain control, grabbing an easy 25-15 win in the third set and taking leads of 5-1 and 15-9 in the fourth.
But the Squires struck back again in the fourth set, tying the score five different times, with the last deadlock at 21-21. Calvin Christian then won four of the last five points to take the set 25-22 and send the match to a fifth-set tiebreaker.
[7]
[8]
Finishing off the grueling match was not easy for the Trojans, either. The score was tied three times, and the Squires pulled ahead 5-3, but Fruitport got some big efforts from several different players when it mattered the most.
Emma Danicek and Izzy Hanson-Wilbur combined for a big block at the net to pull the Trojans within a point at 5-4. Hanson-Wilbur nailed two hard kills, Alexa Sweet served an ace, then Emma Fecher added two kills, helping Fruitport grab a 12-8 lead.
The Trojans hung on in the end to take the set 15-12 and win the match.
Hanson-Wilbur led the Trojans with 17 aces, Fecher added 12, Danicek had 11 and Ellie Stroup chipped in 10. Fecher and Sweet had 26 and 18 assists, respectively.
[9]
[10]
Defensively, Porter Johnson had 32 digs and Hanson-Wilbur had 22.
The tense victory followed a rare bad night for the Trojans on Wednesday, when they traveled to Grand Rapids West Catholic and lost three matches, to Zeeland East, West Catholic and Forest Hills Central.
Despite the rough ride this week, Bayle said it was all a good experience for her team.
“We went to West Catholic to get pushed to play faster, to get our team to step to the next level,” the coach said. “I was so pleased to see that was exactly what we had to do to get that win against Calvin Christian.”
[11]
[12]
[13]