HESPERIA — Hesperia volleyball coach Erin Redinger-Rottier has enjoyed a dream start to her first season leading the bench. First the Panthers defeated county foe Walkerville last Thursday, and Tuesday night they opened West Michigan Conference Rivers action with a 25-19, 25-19, 25-15 win over rival Holton.
"I came in and saw them last year, and I knew what I wanted to improve upon that would
make them better," Redinger-Rottier said. "I set the standard three weeks ago, and they rose to the occasion."
The Panthers (2-0, 1-0 WMC Rivers) didn't take very long to take command of each of the three games. The third was the only game of the three that was in much doubt after the early points were scored. Down early, Hesperia went on a long scoring run that started just prior to the midpoint of the game, grabbing a lead and extending it to 19-10 to all but secure victory.
In fact, about the only thing that slowed Hesperia down all night was excessive service errors. Redinger-Rottier was bemused by the team's struggles in that department, saying they served about 90% of their attempts into play against Walkerville.
"Today was a little shocking to me," Redinger-Rottier said. "I think they felt like this was a
tougher opponent. They wanted
to serve more aces versus just smart serves. The momentum in between is
something we've worked on, letting the last mistake go and worrying
about the next play."
Hesperia, like many smaller schools, isn't blessed with an army of very tall girls who can leap over the net, but what the Panthers do have is many girls who are effective in getting the ball over it. Setter Emily McCallum did well to distribute the ball to her teammates at the net throughout the evening, keeping the Red Devils from being able to key in on any one player. The coach also credited McCallum with setting up her attackers by putting them in position to emphasize their strengths.
To the degree the Panthers did feed an attacker over the rest, that player was probably Sarissa Conkle, who seemed to be in the middle of many of their most effective runs of play.
"She's got a big vertical, and she
likes to swing at the ball," Redinger-Rottier said of Conkle. "We've been really working on her. She
went from a middle hitter to an outside, so (it's been about) timing and keeping that
ball out in front of her so that she can use the advantage of her
vertical to put that ball down wherever she wants."
The Panthers still need to show improvement in pressure situations, Redinger-Rottier said, but she's enjoying their early-season success, and so, she noted, was a solid and loud crowd.
"I think the
kids are really enjoying it," Redinger-Rottier said. "I think it's fun. I feel like the
community's really enjoying it. I thought our student section was awesome
tonight."
