England leads Libby girls to 3-0 victory over Trojans
Hannah England was on fire Tuesday night as she racked up 12 aces and 19 assists to lead the Libby Loggers volleyball team to an opening-match victory over the Troy Trojans.
The Loggers handed the home-team Trojans a 25-8, 25-17, 25-12 loss in Troy’s second outing of the year.
Libby Coach Cindy Ostrem-Johnston said her team stayed composed during difficult moments in the match, particularly in the second game when the Trojans took an early lead.
“I was pleased with the way we played,” she said. “We weren’t perfect - we made mistakes - but we handled it very well.”
Libby starts all seniors on its varsity squad this year. Troy, on the other hand, has only four seniors.
Troy Coach Mandy Love said the Trojans are still learning to play as a team.
“We had some rallies that were good. We had moments when we looked pretty good,” she said. “But we want to see improvement in just about every area. We are not solid in any area yet.”
The Trojans gave the Loggers all they could handle during several high-intensity volleys. But the experience of the senior Loggers helped them gain points at pivotal moments.
“Libby is actually pretty solid,” Love said. “They’ve been playing together for a while.”
After walking away with the first game, the Loggers found themselves trailing in the second game and had to battle back to a 12-12 tie before England and teammate Hailley Moe picked up a few well-timed kill shots to give Libby a lead that would carry them through the second game.
Troy jumped out to a 2-0 start in the third game and stayed within striking distance until Libby went on an 8-1 run and pulled ahead 17-9. It was all Libby after that as the Loggers closed out the match with a 25-12 win in the third and final game.
Ostrem-Johnston said the Loggers experimented a bit with a faster-paced offense.
“I’m proud of my hitters for taking a risk to run a faster offense,” she said. “They haven’t done that in the past, but it was nice to see them run some different plays.”
Libby finished the match with 25 aces, 24 kills, 19 assists, five digs and one block. Hailley Moe led the Loggers with eight kills, followed by Staci Regh with seven. Mahalah Wedel had three of the team’s digs.
Troy finished with 10 kills, three blocks and an ace. Sophomores Samantha Rohrich and Sarah Pierce led the team with three kills each. Senior Olivia Thomas had two blocks.
Love said she saw some improvements in her team since the Trojans opened the season at Mission on Aug. 30.
“This was an improvement, so we are going to get better,” she said. “Libby’s serves were tougher than we faced last weekend, which kind of surprised us.”
The Trojans junior varsity squad beat the Loggers 25-14, 25-12 and 15-7 earlier in the evening.
Libby will play in a tournament in Frenchtown tonight and tomorrow.
Troy’s next match will be tonight at Mission.