Under a gold supermoon, in front of a black and gold crowd and filled with golden-like tears, the Rockets struck gold again in the state championship. After a commanding first-set win, RM didn’t look back as they cruised to a 3-0 (25-19, 25-9, 25-17) win over Broadneck HS in the 4A State Championship on Nov. 16 at Harford Community College. RM entered the game with the chance to become back-to-back title winners, but more importantly, the opportunity to establish RM as a perennial contender and leave a legacy of not just winning, but the high spirit and energy manner in how they do so.
The first set began with strong serving from senior setter Amy Ye and junior outside hitter Ellie Mitchell, helping the Rockets jump out to a quick 6-3 lead and force a Bruin timeout. In last year’s title game against Leonardtown, the Rockets used an early 12-3 lead to win the opening set, and a similar effort was repeated in this game.
RM expanded their lead to seven with three powerful kills from freshman outside hitter Katie Mitchell. “Katie was a great addition to this team,” Head Coach Gretchen Barber-Strunk said. “She can hammer a ball like no other. But in addition to that, she brings something to the team that was missing and a level of energy. There are certain times when she goes up, you don’t even need to watch the rest of the play because you already know it’s going to end right there.” Katie Mitchell filled up the stat sheet for RM in the final, racking up seven kills, four aces and 12 serve receptions.
Just as RM was about to grab the elusive first set, Broadneck scored six unanswered points to draw the score to 23-17. The Rockets then showed their composure, as a crafty finesse shot from senior captain Ema Djordjevic and a service error from the Bruins sealed the set win for RM. Djordjevic finished the game with a team-high 12 kills and nine assists.
Broadneck opened the second set with a reminder of why they made it to the state championship. A service ace and kill from junior outside hitter Kennedy Smith had the Bruins up 2-0. Led by their two co-captains Djordjevic and senior outside hitter Corinne Howard, the Rockets vanquished Broadneck’s momentum quickly with a 7-1 run. RM continued to lean on their captains in the second set as Djordjevic owned the left side of the court and Howard rattled off multiple aces to move RM one set closer to history.
“Their leadership is like no other. The two of them bring the exact mix of everything we need off and on the court,” Coach Barber-Strunk said. “They led this team to their back-to-back state championship and helped lead the team last year to that first state championship. We have talent, we have greatness, but without them, it would be vastly different.”
Reminiscent of the championship game a year ago, RM’s opponent started the third set aggressively, forcing the Rockets into mistakes and miscommunications. On Saturday, the Rockets displayed the experience from the year before to thwart a run from the Bruins in the third set. The two teams exchanged points until Howard made her presence known in the middle. Two thumping spikes from the Howard University commit forced Broadneck to call a timeout at 14-11. Howard finished with nine kills and two block assists in her final game in black and gold.
With a target on their back all year as defending champs, the Rockets had dealt with high-pressure moments like this all season. “It was less pressure, more chip on our shoulder,” Howard said. “As we kept going through the state tournament, it did start feeling like pressure. The Churchill game [in the state semifinals] especially put a lot of pressure on us. We weren’t expecting to get knocked back like that. Getting that win just by the skin of our teeth was really hard for us, but tonight was definitely a showing of our preparation from the entire state tournament.”
From there, it was a total team effort. The high-flying and hard-hitting Mitchell sisters each contributed crucial points. Sophomore libero Ana Djordjevic provided error-free serving for the last five points. The team played a near-flawless game, recording a .406 hitting percentage (.300 is considered elite in college) with just six hitting errors.
But the game’s final three points embodied the team’s story. Djordjevic and Howard, both four-year varsity players, multi-year captains and with dozens of awards and accomplishments between them, combined to block the Bruins three straight times to clinch the title for the Rockets once again.
“There is no better feeling than being a two-time state champion,” Djordjevic said. “You think you can’t reach that feeling again after winning the first, but then you win it again after so much hard work and the payoff is such a release. It feels so amazing and incredible.”
In addition to the state championship, the Rockets finished the season with a divisional title, regional and county championship and an undefeated 20-0 record. RM was also awarded the Lesley W. Cooke Sportsmanship Award after the game.
Unlike last season, the Rockets will graduate a large class of seniors this year, including three from their starting lineup. Yet, a now deeply experienced and talented group of underclassmen and juniors remain, poised to continue to build RM as a powerhouse in Maryland volleyball. The seniors leave behind two banners in the rafters, but more notably, a culture of support.
“One thing [us seniors] really preach is building that family and that community,” Djordjevic said. “I hope that the legacy we leave is one that demonstrates the strong bond we have and how crucial that is to a successful team and to a successful game like this.”
