Hampshire’s Jorah Rutter thought she was being recruited by Eastern Illinois as just a setter.
After a year of working on her hitting, however, the 6-foot-2 senior has discovered that she may have opened up some more doors for herself as far as her volleyball future goes.
“I’ve always been one of the taller players and I used to hit when I was younger,” Rutter said. “It was just kind of always, if it came about they needed somebody, I’d always be put in that position.”
Coming into Thursday’s 25-10, 25-22 Fox Valley Conference win over Dundee-Crown, Rutter was second on the team behind Elizabeth King with 187 kills. She was also second to Kylie Lambert with 222 assists and also had 122 digs, 35 aces and 29 blocks.
Rutter ended up with four kills, an ace and a block Thursday for Hampshire (26-5, 11-4). Elizabeth King added nine kills and an ace. Hailey Homola had three kills and two blocks, while Katelynn Petterson chipped in with three kills and two aces.
Coley DiSilvio paced Dundee-Crown (8-18, 3-13) with five kills. Riley Jedras and Allison Mathesius each had four kills and an ace.
First-year Hampshire coach Omar Cortez, who is Rutter’s club coach at Top Flight, saw this evolution first-hand.
“I guess it helps when you’re 6-foot-2 and have a nice vertical and can get up,” Cortez said. “Last year, we needed a little bit more offense on the right side, and she started working on becoming a better hitter.
“It’s definitely shown. It still needs a little bit of work, but just like everything, it’s coming along.”
While she was recruited as a setter for her U-16 team, Rutter started to evolve by the next season. All of a sudden, colleges that were recruiting her solely as a setter noticed a different side.
“I thought (I would be setting) at first, but they saw me hit and liked the way I was hitting so there’s a possibility of that happening,” she said. “I’m definitely more of a setter, but we’ll see how it goes.”
For his part, Cortez knew Rutter had it in her to expand her game for the Whip-Purs.
“Eastern will be lucky to have her setting on the back row and hitting on the front row with her offensive skills,” Cortez said. “She’s getting there, but she’s definitely a unique talent to have.
“It also helps having a secondary setter like Kylie Lambert who can run the offense just as good as she does.”
Lambert played up a year with Rutter during the club season as well, so that helped build some chemistry for their time sharing those setting duties this season for Hampshire.
“Both of them definitely complement each other as setters on the court,” Cortez said. “They’re both so talented.”
On senior night Thursday, Rutter helped set the tone for a dominant win in the first game. In the second game, however, the Chargers hung around — as they have done often this season.
“We have our moments,” Dundee-Crown coach Jason LeBlanc said. “This has happened a lot this year. We’re this close. It’s an emotional roller coaster at times, but we have some young players and they’re still learning. We’ll get there.”
After finishing second in Class 2A in 2007, the Whip-Purs have seen a litany of new coaches running the program, resulting in only two regional titles since that wonderful season.
Rutter, though, is hoping this is the year that Hampshire turns the corner.
“We’re very excited,” Rutter said. “We think this might be one of our better years by far.
“We’re hoping to go far as a team.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
