The Fruitport volleyball team got a real workout on Tuesday night, and the Trojans’ coach thinks is was much-needed.
Before Tuesday, the very successful Trojans had not played a match of more than three sets all season.
On Tuesday they played one five-set match and one four-set match, with mixed results.
The Trojans engaged in a five-set marathon with rival Spring Lake and ended up losing in a tie-breaker.
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They lost the first set 23-25, won the second 25-20, lost the third 22-25, won the fourth 25-16, and finally lost the fifth-set tie-breaker 11-15.
Fruitport went on to defeat Kalamazoo Premier, but had to come from behind and play four sets go do it. The scores were 23-25, 25-23, 25-16, 25-9.
“We were challenged tonight, and that’s something we needed,” said Fruitport head coach Samantha Fehler. “We haven’t had to play five sets yet this season, so we needed to find a way to push through, both physically and mentally.
“Spring Lake played a great match, and we struggled with some things that are usually strengths for us. It was good for us to be pushed and have to compete tonight, because now we know exactly what we need to focus on and train on moving forward.”
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Izzy Hanson-Wilbur led the offense with 22 kills on the night. Rowynn Miller had a big night as well, chipping in 21 kills.
Emma Fecher dished out 27 assists, followed by Alexa Sweet with 20 and McKenna Joslyn with 10.
Regan Wilson served 10 aces and Maycee Hall had five.
Porter Johnson led defensively with 51 digs followed by Wilson with 41. Hanson-Wilbur added 28 and Fecher had 27.
The Trojans, now 19-5-2, will visit Calvin Christian on a conference match on Thursday.
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