MONTAGUE – Rowynn Miller sure picked the perfect time to have a breakout performance for the Fruitport volleyball team.
The heavily-favored Trojans were sputtering a bit against Montague on Wednesday in the semifinal round of the Division 2 district tournament at Montague High School.
Fruitport won the first two sets, but lost the third after squandering several leads. The fourth set started out as a nail-biter, with Montague threatening to continue its impressive comeback and force a fifth and decisive set.
The Trojans only led 8-7 and still looked pretty shaky, then Miller, a talented sophomore who has been waiting in the wings to play a bigger role, got really hot.
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She produced, or helped produce, eight of the next 13 points, with four kills, three blocks (one solo) and one tip shot that fell in for a point. Suddenly Fruitport led 19-9 and went on to win the set 25-13 and clinch the match by a 3-1 score.
The Trojans, 31-10-1 on the season, now advance to Thursday night’s district championship match against archrival Spring Lake at Montague High School at 7 p.m. Fruitport has split a pair of matches with the Lakers this season.
Miller was getting extra court time because standout senior Ellie Stroup recently suffered an injury that ended her season. The time had come for others to step in and fill the gap in the lineup, and Miller definitely answered the call.
“I just think it’s my first time on varsity, and I wanted it for the team and the seniors,” Miller said. “Something just came alive in me, and I just felt it and pushed through and tried to help pick up my teammates.
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“I was thinking about the seniors who are injured right now, and I really wanted to push through for them.”
Fruitport head coach Nicole Bayle was thrilled with the way Miller stepped up.
“We have been talking a ton to the players about being a spark for the team, being that person who sparks the energy, and Rowynn stepped up and did that tonight,” Bayle said. “It was for sure her biggest match of the season. For her to do the things she did tonight, I am very proud of her.”
The match turned out be more challenging than expected for Fruitport, which came in as a solid favorite against Montague, which finished the season with a 13-27-1 record.
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The Trojans were clearly the better team, but had lapses at times throughout the match that made things more dramatic than they probably had to be.
Fruitport won the first set with relative ease, 25-16.
The second set started out as a cakewalk, with the Trojans jumping out to 15-4 and 17-5 leads, before the Wildcats scored six straight points to get back in the mix. Fruitport ended up winning again by a 25-16 score.
Montague refused to die in the third set. The Trojans had an 11-7 lead at one point, but the score ended up being tied nine different times, with the final deadlock at 23-23.
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The Wildcats scored the last two points, won the set 25-23, and forced the match to continue to the fourth.
Coach Bayle attributed the bad set to a bad case of nerves.
“I knew we were going to be nervous,” Bayle said. “I just knew that was going to happen. Everybody just plays a little different when it’s districts, and we have a lot of people on the court doing different jobs.
“Nobody wants to let down their teammates, their coaches or the community.”
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The final set was tied four different times in the early going, including the final time at 7-7, before Miller sparked the Trojans into taking control and the rest of the team took care of business down the stretch.
Junior outside hitter Izzy Hanson-Wilbur played a very big role in the victory. She led the Trojans with 15 kills, many of which came at key points in the match when her team really needed a boost. She also led Fruitport defensively with 16 digs and served four aces.
“She played a really good, smart, efficient match,” Bayle said about Hanson-Wilbur.
Miller finished with eight kills while Emma Danicek had six for the Trojans.
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Regan Wilson served five aces for Fruitport, which had a big serving night with a total of 18 aces. Alexa Sweet and Porter Johnson each added three.
Johnson tied Hanson-Wilbur for the defensive lead with 16 digs while Wilson added 11.
While Coach Bayle was happy to get the victory, she acknowledged that her team will probably have to play better on Thursday to beat Spring Lake and win its second straight Division 2 district title. Last year the Trojans won district and regional championships and advanced all the way to the state quarterfinals.
“I think if we play the way we finished tonight, with that fire and intensity, we have a great shot,” the coach said.
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