GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Self-inflicted wounds and being turned back at the net resulted in the downfall of the Grand Rapids Rise Saturday night against the San Diego Mojo. The Rise suffered their third straight defeat and remain winless versus the Mojo this season (0-3), falling 3-1 inside Van Andel Arena by set scores of 22-25, 25-18, 27-25, 25-15.
With the road win, San Diego (10-10 overall) surpassed Grand Rapids (10-12) to claim third place in the Pro Volleyball Federation standings. The top four teams make the playoffs, which start May 15 in Omaha, Nebraska. The Columbus Fury (8-12) and Vegas Thrill (8-14) are currently outside the playoff spots but are still mathematically in contention.
Grand Rapids, playing its first home match in 16 days following a three-match road stretch, started strong in front of the home crowd. The Rise maintained the lead for most of the opening set. Leading the Rise with six points in the set, middle blocker Marin Grote stepped up with back-to-back blocks in the middle of the frame, 13-10, and had four of her 13 kills in the early stages of the match. She finished with a team-high four blocks.
The Rise notched three aces in the first set after only having one ace in each of their previous two matches. The third ace from setter Ashley Evans gave Grand Rapids a 19-16 lead and forced a San Diego timeout. Erika Pritchard and Kayla Caffey had the other two aces. Both teams then won consecutive block touch challenges to bring the first set to a close. Grand Rapids didn’t get a favorable review on the first match point but were vindicated on the next rally to take a 25-22 opening set victory. The Rise improved to 15-7 in first frames this season.
Neither team could be separated by more than two points in the second set until the Mojo used a 5-0 run to seize a 20-15 lead. That made the difference, as San Diego didn’t let up to even the match at one set apiece with a 25-18 win. The Rise were held to a .114 attack percentage after hitting .276 in the first set. Both Dimitrova and outside hitter Claire Chaussee put down a match-high eight kills for the Rise through the first two sets.
Another 5-0 spurt for San Diego in the third set handed the Mojo a 20-16 advantage. The Rise responded better this time and fought back to even the score at 21-21. Grand Rapids had two chances at set point, leading 24-22, but San Diego got kills from Willow Johnson and Linsey Vander Weide to stay afloat. Chaussee stopped one Mojo set point with her 16th kill, but two more kills from Vander Weide and Morgan Lewis ended the set 27-25 for San Diego.
Defensive specialist Sarah Sponcil, middle blocker Alyssa Jensen, and opposite hitter Morgahn Fingall were subbed into the match for the first time during the third set for the Rise.
In a must-win fourth set for the Rise, the Mojo continued to shut everything down at the net. San Diego accumulated 10 of their 17 blocks in the last two sets. Middle blocker Alison Bastianelli, from Marysville, Michigan, had a season-high 10 blocks to set a Mojo single-match record.
As a result of San Diego’s stifling defense, the Rise only hit .003 in the fourth set and .159 for the match. Grand Rapids committed its second-most attacking errors (30) in a match this season.
Chaussee finished with a team-high 16 kills (.181), while Grote was the most efficient Rise attacker with 13 kills and no attack errors on 20 swings. Grote’s .650 hitting percentage ranks the second-highest (minimum of 10 attack attempts) in the team’s single-match history. Fingall holds the top spot with a .733 attack percentage (11 kills and no errors on 15 swings) at Vegas on April 20.
Evans was the only player to record a double-double with 42 assists and a team-high 19 digs.
The Mojo were paced offensively by opposite hitter Willow Johnson with 18 kills (.311). San Diego hit .230 as a team after being held to .139 in the first set.
Notes
- Rise opposite hitter Emiliya Dimitrova started and played two and a half sets after missing the last two matches with an ankle injury. She finished with nine kills (.000), five digs, and a block. Dimitrova’s streak of 19 straight matches played with double-digit kills came to an end.
- Mojo setter Nootsara Tomkom, who came into the contest second in the League with 10.73 assists per set, played very sparingly. San Diego’s offense mainly ran through August Raskie, who finished 37 assists, nine digs, and a kill. Raskie only had 41 assists this season prior to the match.
- The Rise played 13 of the 14 players on their roster during the contest.
- Grand Rapids and San Diego square off again Sunday, May 5, with a 4 p.m. rematch.
SD 22 25 27 25 — 3
GR 25 18 25 15 — 1
Team Leaders
SD: Kills — Willow Johnson 18, Temi Thomas-Ailara 9, Lindsey Vander Weide 7; Assists — August Raskie 37, Shara Venegas 4, Nootsara Tomkom 4; Aces — Raskie 2, Ronika Stone 2, Vander Weide 2; Blocks — Alison Bastianelli 10, Stone 3, Vander Weide 2; Digs — Venegas 14, Raskie 9, Vander Weide 9, Thomas-Ailara 9.
GR: Kills — Claire Chausee 16, Marin Grote 13, Emiliya Dimitrova 9; Assists — Ashley Evans 42, Camila Gómez 5; Aces — Erika Pritchard 1, Shannon Scully 1, Evans 1, Kayla Caffey 1; Blocks — Grote 4, Pritchard 1, Dimitrova 1, Alyssa Jensen 1; Digs — Evans 19, Gómez 9, Chaussee 8, Scully 8.
A — 3,421
Record / Next Match
Grand Rapids: 10-12 / Sun., May 5 vs. San Diego Mojo, 4 p.m.
San Diego: 10-10 / Sun., May 5 at Grand Rapids Rise, 4 p.m.
