Jets take off after late start to ground Rockets
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RAPID RIVER -- It is not how you start its how you finish and that was the case for the North Central Jets as they rebounded from a slow start to defeat the Rapid River Rockets (24-26, 25-16, 25-13, 25-21) in a Skyline Central Conference match here Thursday.
"We were a little sloppy in the first set," Jets coach Rick Mick said. "They did a good job of forcing us into some of those mistakes and we made it our goal after the first set to clean things up and that got us being more aggressive to the ball and that really lifted our game."
The Jets jumped out to an early 4-1 lead in the third set on a kill by sophomore Autumn Triest who was just called up from the JV for their last game at Carney-Nadeau and ended up winning a spot on the team.
"We brought her up because Carney doesn't have a JV team,” Mick said. "I wanted to get her some varsity experience plus I had a girl nursing and injury and she stepped right in and did a great job and she will be with us now through the rest of the season."
The Rockets battled back and tied the game at seven but it was short-lived as the Jets scored four straight points with a kill by Amilia Eichhorn to put Jets up 11-7.
"This game had its ups and downs at the start," Eichhorn said. "We held it in really well with the exception of during that first set and it was big for us to get this one going into districts next week and I'm going to give it my all on Monday and hopefully move on in the district."
Eichhorn finished with eight kills on the night and Triest had five kills.
The Jets were in control pretty much throughout the third set as they took a 16-9 lead on a pair of kills by Eichhorn as well as a kill from Triest.
"It felt really good to finish the season with a win," Triest said. "This win gives us a big boost of confidence for districts starting on Monday and hopefully we can keep building off of this."
The fourth set was tight as it was tied on nine different occasions but the Jets scored 10 of the last 13 points to take the fourth set 25-21.
The Rockets best effort came in the first set when they jumped out to an early 5-1 lead and closed the set scoring 10 of the last 15 points taking the set 26-24. Senior Saylor Carlson had three kills and two aces for the Rockets on senior night.
"It was a big night for our seniors," Rockets coach Katrina McNamara said. "There were a lot of tears and memories made and it was nice to be able to have this special night for them."
North Central will host Carney-Nadeau on Monday in district action while Rapid River will host Big Bay de Noc on Monday.