Troy sweeps home volleyball opener

In front of a raucous home crowd the Lady Trojans volleyball team swept their home opener against the Stillwater Christian School Cougars.

The Lady Trojans never trailed in the first set and eventually won 25-21. The second set was a back and forth contest that the Lady Trojans won 25-20. The Lady Trojans jumped on the Cougars early in the third set and at one point held a 13-3 lead. The Cougars were able to fight back and make things interesting before the Trojans completed the sweep with a 25-21 victory.

“We were able to sweep them and that was good,” head coach, Mandy Love said. “We wanted to come out and get that final win after getting the first two. It was a situation where we were ahead and they kept fighting back. We just struggled to finish the game. We were able to do it and it was a good learning experience for the girls.”

Last year the Lady Trojans didn’t win a match and Love said part of her team’s struggles to put away the Cougars came from their inexperience of being in that situation.

“They didn’t get to experience that at all last year,” she said. “They never had the opportunity to put away a team. It was a new situation for them. Learning to win is something that’s new and games like these are great for us.”

The Lady Trojans were able to get the sweep, but Love said her team still has room to grow.

“We won the match, which is the nice part,” she said. “But, we didn’t play to our potential. Which is really nice to see. We have had a lot of improvement from last year, but we still have more improvement ahead of us.”

Sophomore, Aurora Becquart led the team in kills with 10.

“She connected with a big hit,” Love said. “It was a solid, solid hit, which was nice to see. We have been working on the timing between her and the setter. Their timing was on and she was able to connect on some hits.”

Junior, Allie Brown led the team with five aces and also recorded 18 assists. Sophomore, Kaitlyn Downey led the team in digs with 20.

Love said her team will continue to improve once they consistently get their timing down.

“We will connect on more hits once we get the timing down,” she said. “We just haven’t been consistent with our timing, but we will get there.”

There was a delay in play when one of the officials issued a yellow card to the home crowd and Love.

“I thought the ref gave them a card for being too loud,” Love said. “I told the ref he couldn’t give them a yellow card for cheering loud and I got a yellow card for that. I guess the crowd said something that wasn’t appropriate. I didn’t realize that when I told him he couldn’t do that. Both cards ended up being reversed. It was just a big misunderstanding.”

Love said her team fed off the energy from the home crowd.

“Our crowd was great,” she said. “The crowd was awesome. They helped our team tremendously. The girls were very excited about the support they received. It was great to see.”

The home sweep came after the Lady Trojans split a pair of matches in Ronan on Saturday, Sept. 5.

The Lady Trojans lost the first match of the day against Ronan in three games. They responded by beating Deer Lodge in four games.

“It was a good weekend for us,” Love said. “We didn’t start off very well against Ronan, which was frustrating because I think that’s a team that we can play a lot better against. We came out very strong against Deer Lodge. I was pleased with the overall effort in that match.”

Brown had a total of 37 assists in the two matches. Downey finished the day with a total of 26 digs. Becquart led the team in kills with 15.

Love said her young team is learning how to win.

“Winning is a learned skill and we are learning how to win,” she said. “It’s been a very exciting start of the season for us.”