HESPERIA — Hesperia has done a lot of hard work in practice this season without seeing the reward, but Thursday, the Panthers enjoyed the fruits of their labor with an impressive three-game sweep of county rival Pentwater, 25-9, 25-11, 25-7.
The win snapped an eight-match losing skid for Hesperia, which hadn't won since defeating another county foe, Walkerville, in the season opener, The Panthers had been competitive in several of those defeats, most recently a five-game loss to Ravenna in West Michigan Conference Rivers action just two days prior.
"We needed a win to solidify all the hard work we were putting in and and really taking some tough teams and playing with these teams," Hesperia coach Erin Redinger-Rottier said. "We really needed this win to be able to prove the point that what we're doing in practice is making a difference. It was a good win. I always like to be able to get my bench in and have everybody be able to be part of it."
The Panthers racked up aces during the match, as Pentwater struggled to field Hesperia's serves - the reverse of the Falcons' win over Walkerville the day before, when the Wildcats' struggles on serve receive was a major factor.
Hesperia focused on its serving, reasoning that it will need more aggressive serves against the more veteran teams on its schedule, and Falcons' coach Kelly Pascavis said those serves threw off her team's defense.
"They weren't ready for the fast, quick serve, I don't think," Pascavis said. "Then that just started intimidating them. They didn't let their spirits down. They were still loud and cheering, but we just did not have it defensively today at all."
Hesperia's Madesyn Bolles (10) and Pentwater's Riley Swanger leap to play a ball during Thursday's match at Hesperia. The Panthers won, 3-0.
When the teams did put together lengthy rallies, Hesperia ran a cohesive offense with help from setter Emily McCallum, an all-conference pick a year ago. Redinger-Rottier said the junior is better this year than she was in 2025.
"She has matured a lot from last year, understanding how to run the offense a little more, spreading things out, keeping the ball control in hustle, panic situations," Redinger-Rottier said. "Then, being able to communicate with her teammates about what's actually going on. She has a very high volleyball IQ, so her being able to communicate what she knows during a play is really helpful for the other girls."
Hesperia's lone speed bump occurred early in game three, when a few errors allowed Pentwater to hang around early, to the tune of a 7-5 Panthers' lead. However, the Falcons slipped up several times after that, scoring 10 consecutive points. Pentwater then committed a service error right after that drought finally ended.
Pentwater's Karina Olivarez dives to get to the ball during Thursday's match at Hesperia. The Falcons lost, 3-0.
During a timeout early in that third game, Redinger-Rottier, who had preached aggressiveness and focus throughout the match, changed tactics to loosen her team up.
"I like to tell a dad joke every once in a while," Redinger-Rottier chuckled. "That was my game plan. I knew that I had to do it at that point, because from the beginning of warmups until that point, I had been talking about how we needed to be more intense and be a competitor. 'Let's be efficient. Let's be consistent.' That wasn't working, so I tried something the opposite, and it seemed to get them back on track."
Getting the win did a lot to validate Hesperia's efforts to improve, and the hope is that it will help build the Panthers' confidence.
"We've actually done a lot of (talking about) being mentally prepared and being mentally tough," Redinger-Rottier said. "A lot of that stuff goes into that. Talking about, 'What wins did we have?' in a match that was close, but we ended up not getting the W. Getting the W is going to solidify a lot of those things that they probably felt like, 'Are you sure we're actually gaining?' Now we've done it."
