Sarah Myers (2) and the rest of the Tippecanoe Valley Vikings react to winning game three of a 3-1 victory over Rochester Monday night. (Photos by Mike Deak)

AKRON – It’s a night that is always circled on the calendar at Tippecanoe Valley, and one that was circled nine times.

Valley celebrated its giant senior class of nine with a 3-1 win over arch rival Rochester, sending off the seniors with its first-ever win over its neighbors to the west.

The joyfully clad green and yellow Bell sat in the corner of the gymnasium, carefully guarded by several members of the football team and the accompaniment. Its presence was the reminder of what the Valley-Rochester weekend means. The Vikings earned its possession with its football win Friday night, but the volleyball program wanted its own reason to sound the Bell. With all of their parents, several former players, and even Rita and Jack Simpson on hand, there was a lot of pressure to pull off a win the seniors hadn’t yet collected.

For the first time in over a decade, the Vikings got the job done against the Zebras, rallying from a first set loss, 25-13, to win 25-22, 25-21, 25-23 in some riveting drama in the Valley gym.

Shayleigh Shriver makes one her 12 digs.

On a night where head coach Mallory Eaton wanted to get her senior cast all into the match, the rotation resembled a different feel in the first game, to which Rochester exploited. The Zebras raced out to a 15-8 lead, and behind the persistent play of Kaitlin Rogers at the net, a pair of kills and blocks had Rogers taking over. An ace from Rogers closed out the first game, leaving the partisan Valley contingent stunned.

“We knew Kaitlin was their big hitter, and with me trying to get my seniors into the lineup, things got a little crazy trying to cover everything,” Eaton said. “Once we got into the right spot defensively, things got a lot easier. Those hits started to funnel right to the spots we covered as the game went on.”

Game two was Valley’s turn to rocket out to a lead, which ballooned all the way out to 19-12 before Rochester showed any sign of life on the other side. But when the Zebras did, they came all the way back to down just 22-20. A Sophie Bussard kill, however, and a smartly played ball by Amy Baca got Valley out of trouble in the second, but again had them up 19-12 in the third, only for Rochester to come roaring back.

The Vikings, however, would not give up the lead after kills from Bussard and Makenzie Woodcox, which saw Shayleigh Shriver add an ace and Bussard put away the pivotal frame with a hammer.

Hannah Engstrand sets up an approaching Amy Baca for a kill attempt.

“Every team knows we are middle dominant, so we are trying to get our pins more involved,” Eaton said. “Once we get them involved, teams have to honor that. We started middle heavy, then went pin heavy and got back to middle again, and that’s where Makenzie started getting better looks and swings.”

Bussard, who became the first person in Valley volleyball history to eclipse the 1,000 kill plateau over the weekend, got loose in the fourth game and pounded home seven kills, giving her 16 for the night. To where she will likely become the first person ever to get 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in the program, Bussard also led the squad with 14 digs and added an ace to close out the match.

“This is always a big rivalry for us, and I haven’t beaten them before so we wanted to get one for the seniors,” Eaton said. “They had high emotions off the Bell Game, and that was exciting. This game was one of the senior class’ goals, and when they came out really strong, that balloon was deflated a little bit. But once the girls settled down a little bit, we had a lot of game left, and they played better ball.”

Among the senior moments for Valley were five kills and two aces from Hannah Jansma, still working back from an ankle injury. Shriver had 12 digs and six aces and Sarah Myers had two assists.

Woodcox added six kills and five blocks, Ally Betten had 13 digs, and Baca had five kills. Hannah Engstrand hung up 39 assists.

The Valley JV also had to work to pull out a 25-21, 20-25, 15-6 win over the Zebras. A host of Vikings led the team in the win, with Macy Kirchenstien posting seven assists and six aces, Mallory Durkes getting six kills, Brayden Baney digging six attempts, and Hayley Backus and Bree Sheetz both blocking two attempts. The Valley JV is 20-7 on the year.

Valley moves to 16-14 overall and 4-3 in the TRC with two more conference matches left to close out the regular season, Wednesday at Whitko and Thursday at Southwood. Eaton’s club then has a bye until Oct. 13 in Tippecanoe Valley Sectional semi-finals, where it will take on either Wawasee or Lakeland.

The Valley bench has a little fun during a timeout Monday night against Rochester.