Troy takes 4 seed to district tourney

The Western News

The Troy High School volleyball team dropped both of its matches on Saturday during the District 7B tournament at Plains.

In their first appearance, the Lady Trojans lost to eventual tournament champion Eureka, 25-14, 25-18, 25-18.

“It took us a little while to get into the rhythm of things but we played them better than the other two times,” Troy coach Sandra Jansma said.

In the consolation match later in the day, Thompson Falls beat Troy, 25-22, 25-22, 25-18.

“We started out really good and then senior Alicia Anderson … went down with an ankle injury and the team had a hard time recovering from that,” Jansma said. “She went back in and played the front row but she was favoring the ankle pretty good.”

All four teams now advance to the Western B divisional tournament, which begins Thursday at Valley Christian in Missoula. Eureka enters the double-elimination tourney as the No. 1 seed out of the North.

Meanwhile, the Trojans

(8-11 overall) will face the No. 1 seed out of the South, Loyola Sacred Heart. The two schools will hook up at 10 a.m. Thursday.

With a win, Troy would advance to a Thursday evening match at 6 p.m. With a loss, the Trojans would play on Friday at noon.

Jansma said Anderson is doing well with the ankle and is expecting to play.

In the opener against Eureka, the Lady Trojans got five kills, seven digs and two ace serves from junior Ashley Paasch. Senior Molly Harpole contributed a pair of blocks and Alyssa Olds had nine set assists.

Briann Linnell of Eureka had an exceptional match with eight kills and six blocks. Teammate Taylor Holder also had eight kills.

Against Thompson Falls, stat leaders included junior Kristin Parks with seven kills and two blocks, sophomore Megan Cummings with nine digs, Olds with 12 assists and Paasch with three ace serves.

Makayla Becker had three blocks and six digs to lead the Bluehawks.

Eureka won the championship with a 25-16, 32-30, 23-25, 26-24 marathon over St. Ignatius. Mission had pulled off an upset over Thompson Falls to reach the finals.

7B District Tournament

Saturday at Plains

Semifinals

Eureka def. Troy, 25-14, 25-18, 25-18

St. Ignatius def. Thompson Falls, 25-22, 24-26, 21-25, 25-22, 15-11

Consolation

Thompson Falls def. Troy, 25-22, 25-22, 25-18

Championship

Eureka def. St. Ignatius, 25-16, 32-30, 23-25, 26-24