ADA – Now maybe the volleyball experts around the state will start taking notice of Fruitport again.

The Trojans have been really good all season, rolling to 30-plus victories with a conference championship, but for most of that time it wasn’t enough to impress to folks who vote in the state coach’s poll.

They were completely snubbed in the Division 2 state rankings until the final poll of the season – released just last week – when they were finally recognized as honorable mention.

But the Trojans are now one of 16 teams still standing in the Division 2 state tournament following an impressive 3-1 victory over Forest Hills Eastern on Tuesday in the first round of regionals, played on FHE’s home court.

Fruitport, now 35-11, will face St. Johns on Thursday in the regional championship game at Forest Hills Eastern, will the winner advancing to the state quarterfinals.

This is the farthest the Trojans have advanced in the state tournament since 2022, when they had a Cinderella run after a tough regular season and reached the regional finals before losing to Grand Rapids West Catholic

So they are doing pretty good for a team that flew under the radar of the state rankings all season.

“Honestly, on the ranking email I said, ‘Hey, we’re 32-11 and we’ve beaten good teams,’” said longtime Fruitport Coach Nicole Bayle. “I said, ‘If you don’t put us in the rankings you’re going to look foolish, because we’re going to be in the state semifinals!’”

The Trojans still need to win two more matches to make the semifinals, but if they keep playing the way they did on Thursday, it’s could be an attainable goal.

They performed with poise and confidence and had relatively little trouble beating Forest Hills Eastern, a team that was ranked as high as seventh in the state earlier in the year.

“It is starting to feel good,” Bayle said. “We just told the girls, ‘We got your back as coaches, but that doesn’t matter unless you execute and trust one another, and they did that tonight. They trusted the teammate next to them to take care of the ball and ended up with a victory. We’re super excited about that.”

Fruitport was dominant in the first set, jumping out to a quick 7-0 lead, never letting the Hawks get closer than three points, and winning 25-15.

That easy win might have resulted in some overconfidence, because the Trojans lost their way a bit in the second set and lost 25-22.

The match could have unraveled at that point, but the Trojans demonstrated an ability to pull themselves together when it mattered most and regained control of the contest.

They led the third set 13-11, then pulled away with a five-point service run by Isabel Hanson-Wilbur and ended up winning 25-18.

The fourth set was dangerous, because the Hawks had to win to stay alive, and kept up with the Trojans most of the way. Fruitport had narrow leads of 15-14 and 18-16, but then put the set and the match away by winning seven of the final nine points.

Senior middle hitter Sadie Haase was once again a force on the court, recording 17 kills and serving four aces.

Ellie Stroup added 10 kills, Emma Fecher served four aces and Gracelynn Olson had 34 assists.

Defensively, numerous Trojans did a great job of keeping the ball in play when facing some hard shots from the Hawks’ powerful outside hitters. Tara Sweet led the effort with 14 digs, Hanson-Wilbur added 12, Stroup had 11 and Olson totaled 10.

“Not really super worried,” Bayle said, when asked if she was concerned after losing the second set. “We played bad, and it was still 25-20.

“We had a few glitches, but good opponents will do that to you. That’s what I love about this team – they stick together and they believe. They know they can come back on anybody. If they stick together and work hard they know they can be victorious.”