Lady Trojans' season ends at district tourney

Heading into the District 7B tournament last week, the Troy High School volleyball team knew it would need to battle both Mission and Thompson Falls to keep its season alive.

Bigfork and Eureka played up to their abilities and took the top two positions. That left Mission, Thompson Falls and Troy to compete for the other two spots to advance to this week’s Western B Divisionals.

“All three teams are really competitive and two teams get to go and one goes out. Unfortunately, that was us,” Troy head coach Sandra Jansma said. “A lot of the girls played well but in the end, we just couldn’t figure it out in time.”

Troy opened with a frustrating five-game loss to Mission. The Bulldogs pulled off a 24-26, 25-19, 25-21, 21-25, 15-7 win with Rachel Jensen, Jonna Grant and Adessa Durglo all getting big hits.

“We knew it was going to be a fight,” Jansma said. “When it came down to it, we didn’t push as hard as we should have.”

Ashley Paasch finished with 14 of the 43 kills for the Lady Trojans. Kristin Parks came up with three blocks, Alyssa Olds had 30 set assists and Kimmy Klin served for four aces. Both Olds and Klin shared team-high honors in digs with 14 apiece.

“We battled each time we saw each other,” Jansma said about Mission. “It was a lot of fun; they’ve got a good program.”

The loss dropped Troy down ino an elimination game on Saturday against Thompson Falls. The Trojans and Bluehawks had split during the regular season with each school winning on the other’s home floor. This time around, Thompson Falls came up with the right answers in a 25-11, 23-25, 25-17, 25-19 victory.

Parks had team-high numbers for both kills (11) and blocks (2). Klin led in digs with 14 and also had three aces from the service line. Olds finished with 25 assists.

Bigfork won the tournament with a thriller over Eureka, 12-25, 25-23, 17-25, 26-24, 15-13. Those two schools along with Mission and Thompson Falls head to the Western B divisionals Thursday through Saturday in Superior.

Troy ends the season with a 6-13 overall record.

“I’m going to miss my seniors … they added a lot to the team,” Jansma said. “It was a pleasure coaching the girls. They had a great attitude.”