FREMONT – Momentum can be a strange thing in volleyball.
If it’s on your side, anything is possible. If it’s going against you, stopping it can feel as daunting as climbing a mountain.
Tuesday night the Ross volleyball team lost the momentum at the end of the third set against Old Fort. While the Lady Giants still won that set, the Stockaders stole the momentum and carried it into the fourth set. Ross could not stem the tide nor steal the momentum back on its way to a four-set loss, 18-25, 23-25, 27-25, 11-25.
“(Momentum) was kind of going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth and in the fourth set, we just didn’t have any,” coach Kari Shull said.
Trailing 2-0 in sets, Ross played its best stretch of the match. The Lady Giants executed with roll shots and Olivia DeRodes repeatedly pounded the ball for kills to put Ross ahead 20-10. The Lady Giants looked on the verge of closing out the set, leading 24-17. The Stockaders started to mount a rally until Izzy Held set up Jazmin Bulger for the set-clinching kill – or so it seemed.
The official, however, called Held for a lift, giving the point to Old Fort. Using the controversial call to its advantage, Old Fort continued to chip away at the deficit and scored eight points in a row to tie the set at 24.
“It takes a lot of wind out of your sails when the ref makes a terrible call like that,” Shull said. “I think that carried over a bit into set No. 4. But I still thought, overall, we had some energy on the court tonight.”
While Ross eventually pulled out the set victory, 27-25, the momentum the Stockaders had built up in its comeback set the tone for what was to come.
Old Fort opened Set 4 on a 5-0 run and soon led 11-2 then 16-3. Ross never threatened to put together a similar rally of its own.
“I think the fourth set the difference was they executed those tips and roll-shots to perfection and we had been doing that in sets 1, 2 and 3 better than them and in Set 4 it was hard for us,” Shull said. “That was the big difference in the game.”
DeRodes led the attack with 13 kills with 24 passes, 12 digs and three blocks.
AnneMarie Moses nine kills, three aces, four blocks, 10 digs and 22 passes while Bulger had five kills and two blocks.
Lindsay Weickert finished with 20 passes and two blocks while Sara Hrynciw had 14 assists and Izzy Held had 10 assists.
Kennedy Bohannan had two blocks and Olivia Baptista had eight digs.
Ross falls to 3-12 overall and travels to Notre Dame Thursday.