SEYMOUR — Tuesday night’s volleyball match between Trinity Lutheran, ranked No. 2 in Class A, and Providence, ranked No. 3 in Class 4A, was exciting as expected through the first two sets with the Pioneers winning 25-20, 25-21.
Providence took control early in the third set and rolled 25-8 to finish off the win.
“I thought we played hard, we competed really well at the net,” Trinity coach Faith Wilder-Newland said of the action in the first two sets. “They just play such great defense. You think you put the ball down and here in comes back. It was a very exciting match in the first two sets. Providence is ranked second in 4A for a reason. We’ve got to keep that in perspective.
“We’re not just out to compete against teams in our class. We want to compete against anybody and everybody.”
Providence jumped on top 6-1 in the first set before the Cougars rallied behind back-to-back kills by Hannah Sabotin to close to 6-5. Another kill by Sabotin left the Cougars within 14-13 before the Pioneers scored four straight to lead 18-13.
Trinity’s final point in the first set was a kill by Sydney Jaynes that made the sore 24-20 before Providence scored set point on a kill by Ali Hornung.
The second set was tied six times, first at 9-9 and the last at 20-20 before the Pioneers scored four straight points to take control.
Providence carried that momentum over to the third set and held a 2-1 lead before scoring eight straight for a 10-1 lead. The Cougars were unable to score back-to-back points in this set.
“That was a good measuring stick,” Wilder-Newland said. “It gives us a lot to work on in practice. We see what we need to do better. We need to position our blocks better and that will help our defense get in the right position.
“We need to stay low on serve reception and not play balls that are out. We need to work on setting choices, or position. That’ a lot of it. We could do better at serving aggressively. They definitely serve aggressively and we did the first two sets but that third set it kind of got away form us.”
Sabotin topped the Cougars with 19 kills. Kamzi Gross topped the team in digs with 10, and Bailey Reynolds was had 20 assists and an ace. Jaynes added four blocks.
