MONTAGUE – Learning how to overcome life’s challenges is one of the big lessons offered by high school sports, and the Fruitport volleyball team has definitely earned an A-plus in that category.
There were a lot of reasons to suspect that the Trojans might not come close to duplicating the kind of success they had last season, when they were conference, district and regional champions.
Most of it had to do with a loss of key players – All-Stater Sadie Haase to graduation in the spring, All-Stater Gracelynn Olson to an injury before the start of the season, then standout Ellie Stroup to an injury near the end of the regular season.
Some wondered if the growing list of sidelined teammates had taken a toll on the Trojans, particularly on Wednesday night, when they looked a little ragged at times in a victory over Montague in the district semifinals.
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But reports of Fruitport’ demise turned out to be greatly exaggerated. The Trojans demonstrated their depth and resolve on Thursday, beating rival Spring Lake in four sets at Montague High School to claim their second straight Division 2 district championship.
The set scores of the hard-fought match were 25-13, 25-23, 23-25, 25-22.
Fruitport, now 32-13-1, has now duplicated two of its three big accomplishments from last season by winning back-to-back conference and district titles. The Trojans will now try to repeat as regional champions, beginning on Tuesday against Ionia at Fremont High School.
“There have been a lot of challenges this year, with injuries and some family situations, and high schoolers tend to be so prone to drama, but this group has worked hard through the adversity, and for them to show up today and be successful was amazing,” said Fruitport head coach Nicole Bayle.
“They have just continued to push through the adversity, continued to work hard and continued to fight against the odds.”
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Most of Thursday’s match was close and intense.
The Trojans came out roaring in the first set, leading the entire way and coasting to the 12-point victory.
But everyone knew it would not stay that easy, because Spring Lake is a good team that split a pair of matches with Fruitport during the regular season, and wasn’t going to just fade off and die.
The Lakers built a very promising 19-12 lead in the second set and appeared to be on the verge of tying the match, but then Fruitport responded with its most impressive effort of the night.
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The Trojans took six of the next seven points to pull within two points at 20-18. Spring Lake then won three of the next four points to take a 23-19 lead, but then Fruitport roared back at the end, winning the last six to steal the set 25-23.
Emma Fecher led off the late comeback with a kill, Emma Danicek served an ace and Fecher and Rowynn Miller combined for a successful block that fell in for a point.
Spring Lake built an 18-14 lead in the third set, the Trojans roared back again and tied the score at 20-20, but the Lakers held on and won 25-23.
Fruitport put an end to the Lakers’ hopes in the fourth set, however, leading the entire way. It got a little tight at the end, when Spring Lake pulled within two points at 21-19, and again at 24-22, but the Trojans were able to put it away and claim another district trophy.
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Coach Bayle said the impressive second-set comeback was the key to the entire evening.
“They have been trying to give me a heart attack all year,” she joked about the dramatic comeback. “But I knew they had the confidence, skill and ability to come back. To see them work through that, I was very proud of them. That was a huge swing.”
Junior Izzy Hanson-Wilbur admitted the Trojans were worried when they fell so far behind in the second set – but not worried enough to prevent the big rally.
“We just kept communicating with each other, and we all had each others’ back,” she said. “There was definitely panic. We were behind 20-11 or something like that, but we came back and won, and that was very special for us.”
There’s no doubt that Thursday’s performance was a full-team effort by the Trojans, because anything less probably would have resulted in defeat.
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Everyone contributed in different ways, by scoring points with hard and soft shots, diving to make incredible saves to keep the ball in play, hitting aces with great serves – or even getting hit in the head by a hard Spring Lake shot and watching the ball go back over the net to fall in for a point, which happened to Fruitport’s Alexa Sweet.
But one really key player in both wins this was Hanson-Wilbur, who led the Trojans in kills on both Wednesday and Thursday, and scored a lot of key points against Spring Lake in really crucial moments.
She finished with a team-high 15 kills and also led the defensive effort with 17 digs.
At the beginning of the season, Hanson-Wilbur was expected to be just one of several of the big hitters on the team, but after the injuries, she became the main offensive threat and lived up to the challenge.
“She’s a stud,” Bayle said about Hanson-Wilbur. “She really has stepped up into that leadership role.
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“She and Ellie both did some amazing things and were really effective for us, but when Ellie went down, it changed the responsibility that fell on Izzy. She was a little reluctant about it at first – that’s a lot of pressure – but in the last week and a half she’s been somebody we could really rely on.
:”She’s a smart volleyball player, and I love to see her showcase that. She has really become a great momentum swinger for us.”
Danicek also had a great night offensively with 12 kills and four aces. Fecher chipped in with six kills.
Fecher and Sweet set up the offensive with 17 and 13 assists, respectively. Sweet and Regan Wilson each served three aces.
A lot of girls contributed to the great defensive effort. Wilson had 16 digs, Porter Johnson had 14, Fecher had 12 and Sweet had 10. Addison Bordeaux and Miller each had three blocks.
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