WINGATE — In a match last season against Philipsburg-Osceola, a Bald Eagle Area volleyball player received a serve and bumped the ball toward the net. The pass was high, nearly a foot above the net. But setter Madison Rockey could reach it, and with one hand made a quick flip to redirect the ball to teammate Jordan Anderson just a few feet away. Anderson, a senior last season, had already left her feet as the ball was reaching Rockey’s fingers, and hammered the ball down for a kill.
Rockey, now a junior, and Anderson made the play look easy, almost effortless. In reality, it is one of the tougher plays a setter can make, even in college. It takes skill, creativity, trust among teammates and plenty of practice to the perfect timing.
“The role of the setter is to be the coach on the floor,” BEA coach Larry Campbell said. “She makes all the decisions, so to have someone that you trust enough to be able to handle that, it’s a big thing and the kids follow her.”
The Lady Eagles have all of that again this season throughout the lineup, and it starts with their quarterback leading the team with size, skill and confidence. BEA (14-0) is undefeated in dual matches for a second straight season, with one week left before the start of the District 6 tournament, has clinched the Mountain League title and taken 57 straight conference matches.
With five starters returning from last season’s district champs, the successful season was expected both inside and outside the program.
“I’m pretty confident in us,” Rockey said. “For our run to districts and states, I think we’ll be able to go to our standard, where we want to be.”
Rockey will play a major role in reaching those goals. The ball reaches the setter’s hands on nearly every point, she reads the opposing defense and decides who gets the ball and where.
She also is the team leader in general, sometimes calling out the next drill in practices if Campbell isn’t on the court, and pushes and encourages her teammates. Plus, Rockey — at 5-foot-11, a taller-than-average high school setter — is one of the team’s top blockers, typically across the net from the opposing team’s best hitter.
“It changes the dynamic,” Campbell said. “(With) all her physical talents, her leadership talents are beyond that. Everyone kind of follows her lead. She’s not afraid to let people know when they’re not doing the right thing, but she also does a really good job of telling them, ‘Hey, keep doing your job and we’ll be in good shape.’”
Then there are those extra-special plays, like the play she made against P-O. Usually when the ball is that high, the setter will take a swing or the ball sails over the net to the opponent. To touch the ball with just one hand and place it perfectly to a teammate already in the air is far from ordinary.
“She came back and asked me, ‘Can I do that?’” Campbell recalled. “I told her, ‘Yeah, that’s perfectly fine. Nice move!’ I’ve seen her do things … on tight passes she gets her hands to the ball and allows us to make a play. It covers up a lot of things.”
It is not the only time she had turned what could have been a lost point into a win. Her teammates also have seen her fly into the bleachers to set the ball perfectly, or drop to her knees and still make a quick set to the middle.
“I wouldn’t expect it, but it was a great set,” said Taylor Kilmer, a recipient of one of those quick sets from Rockey on her knees.
“We’re not out of system that much,” said outside hitter Grace Hugar, who is BEA’s top hitter.
Campbell even wonders if his players know how lucky they are to have a setter who can make those plays.
“They’ll appreciate it more once they get away from her,” he said. “That’s the thing. We know we’re in that cycle, we’re able to do stuff and move along a lot quicker than we ever have in the past.”
What helps is many on the team also play with the Affinity club program, also coached by Campbell, for even more practice for their timing and team chemistry. The club team even played in the AAU Girls’ Junior National Championships in Orlando, Fla., in June, battling and sometimes beating teams from across the country.
“We’ve been playing together forever,” Hugar said. “We know each other. When we tell her stuff, she does it right.”
For her career, Rockey has 79 aces, 143 kills, 92 blocks, 313 digs and 1,857 assists. She should reach 2,000 before the season is over, and if things go really well, she has a chance at 3,000 assists by the end of her senior season.
It’s not a bad place to be, even if she likes hitting the ball, too. But she embraces the role, she wants to be a setter in college and she wants to get better every day at the position — however she may get the ball to her teammates.
“I love watching my teammates succeed, too,” Rockey said. “It’s exciting to see that, and that I’m part of their success.”
