RICHMOND – Despite hovering just below the .500 mark, the Richmond-Burton girls volleyball team remains optimistic about its continued growth at the midpoint of its schedule.
That ongoing evolution and improvement were on display Tuesday night, as the Rockets cruised to a 25-17, 25-18 straight-set Kishwaukee River Conference victory over visiting Woodstock.
Seniors Cameron Bayer (12 digs), Bailey Dean (20 assists) and Kayla Malec (nine kills) led by example by consistently filling the stat sheet for R-B (7-8, 3-3 KRC).
“Cameron and Bailey have been on varsity all four years,” Rockets coach Kaycee Kaywood said. “Their growth over those last four years has been amazing. I remember Bailey as a freshman, and she’s come a long way. Not only growth physically, but her character and leadership has totally improved. It’s really fun to watch her now, and fun to watch how all our seniors have developed as athletes and human beings.
“They all understand the game a little bit more, and that knowledge trickles down to our younger players little by little. That knowledge has enabled them to sort of call the shots once in a while, and to hold their teammates accountable.”
Supporting cast
Juniors Abby Svenson (nine digs, six kills) and Kaitlyn Suhr (seven kills, six digs) weren’t too shabby, either. When Richmond-Burton fell behind by five points midway through the first set, Suhr had several momentum-changing spikes after a timeout.
“Coach just told us to stay calm when we fell behind and encouraged us to pick up our energy and defensive effort,” Suhr said. “When you’re trailing or having a difficult time, staying positive is the most important thing you can do. You don’t want anyone on the other team, or your team, feeding off of negativity.”
Aggressiveness was a huge factor in the Rockets’ turnaround early on. Twelve of their 25 points in the first set were from kills – and they scored the final six points of the set after leading, 19-17.
“I was just trying to be smart and place the ball where their defenders weren’t,” Svenson said. “Nothing special. It’s just about visualizing and anticipating, and using my experience to know where to put it.”
In the second set, the Rockets never trailed, and finished the match on a 10-3 run after briefly being tied at 15.
“We’ve switched lineups a bunch of times,” Kaywood said. “I’ve never had a team with this much versatility, or this many girls who can play different positions. It’s a wonderful thing to have as a coach, because I feel it forces our players to be mentally tough and learn new things. That versatility will only benefit us in the long run.”
Having fun
Although Woodstock (9-11-2, 1-5) has just one conference win after facing each KRC team once, coach Meghan Brown is enjoying watching her team grow, too. She routinely was smiling, joking and remaining positive with her players during the match.
“We have a unique combination of senior leadership that has had to work through some difficult situations,” Brown said. “We have two seniors, and at any given time, we also have as many as five sophomores out there. The younger players are still learning.
“If I start getting down on them, it has a negative effect on them, which is no good for anyone. The same thing applies to me being positive and reinforcing the good things. They feed off my positivity as a coach, too. So I think it’s important to always keep things in perspective while also trying to teach the girls, and helping them learn from their mistakes in a constructive way.”
Madelyn Hughes, Sophia Wicker and Lauryn Hahn each had seven digs for the Blue Streaks, while Julia Langton (five kills), Hanna Berry (four kills) and Julia Vosburgh (four kills) did a solid job finishing points.
