Volleyball: Lady Trojans down Noxon, Plains

Trying to move past a frustrating five-game volleyball loss the previous weekend to Darby, the Lady Trojans wanted to come out before the home fans on Thursday night with a performance that would put them back into a winning groove.

As it turned out, Noxon never had a chance.

Troy powered to a 25-14, 25-14, 26-28, 25-9 victory over the Class C school for a positive lead-in into three important 7-B District matches.

“There are a lot of good teams in our district,” Troy head coach Sandra Jansma said, “so we needed to get back into the swing of things.”

The Lady Trojans played the first of those 7-B matches on Saturday and cruised to a three-game sweep, 25-22, 25-19, 25-15.

Against Noxon, Ashley Paasch and Kristin Parks each turned in big hitting performances. Those two players accounted for 21 of Troy’s 32 kills – 11 by Paasch and 10 by Parks.

Jansma was pleased with her team’s play, especially because the Trojans were able to maintain a high level of quality play through most of the match.

“Consistency is what we’re striving for,” Jansma said. “That was our main goal coming out tonight … not to have extreme lows with our highs.”

Following a beautiful rendition of the national anthem by Troy music director Mike Adams, the Lady Trojans came up with beautiful performances on the court through the first two games of the match.

Troy jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the opening game but then fell into a funk over the next few minutes to fall behind, 10-8. Troy got the sideout to pull to within one point and then reeled off nine straight points to take control.

Senior Jessica Lyons served over that stretch with kills coming off hits from Jackie Pepiot, Paasch and Lyons herself. Noxon didn’t help itself with eight unforced errors.

The Lady Devils put together a few points but could not recover. Troy scored four straight with Megan Cummings serving and won it on a Paasch kill and long Noxon hit.

In the second game, it was much of the same with the Trojans in control. The two teams played even through the first third of the game but then Troy pulled away with Kimmy Klin and Paasch serving. The Trojans took a 14-9 lead on a block by Parks.

Ashley Suber hit for points 16 and 17 and Parks got a kill on points 15 and 18 as the Trojans built an eight-point cushion. Troy finished out the game by scoring four straight

The Lady Trojans built a similar lead in the third game but this time, the Devils stormed back to extend the match. Noxon rallied from a 15-9 deficit to tie it up, 21-21. The Devils then survived three match points. Troy took a 25-24 lead on an ace block by Curry but Noxon’s Stephanie Larkin came right back with a kill. The Devils eventually won the game on another Larkin kill.

The Lady Trojans didn’t fool around in the fourth game to close out the match. Troy never trailed and built an insurmountable lead with Lyons and Cummings at the service line. Lyons served for seven consecutive points with Paasch getting a couple of key hits. Later, Cummings served for five more points with Parks and Paasch coming up big at the net. Troy went up 20-6 on a kill by Parks.

After the Devils were able to grab a sideout, Troy wrapped up the match with Klin serving. Paasch had two more big kills and Noxon lost it on a pair of hits into the net.

Lyons had a good night serving with five of the team’s 13 aces. Paasch and Lyons each had a dozen digs and both Curry and Parks recorded blocks. Alyssa Olds had all 23 set assists.

Against Plains on Saturday, Paasch collected nine kills, five digs and three ace serves. Klin had 24 assists and three aces and Cummings came up with five digs.

Troy (2-4 in conference, 4-6 overall) was scheduled to host Eureka on Tuesday in a match after presstime. The Trojans head to Mission on Friday and will play nonconference opponent, Stillwater Christian, at home on Saturday.