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Trojans triumph over Mustangs in 3

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON - West Marshall defenders Teresa Disney, left, and Renae Schaper, right, contest a hit by East Marshall’s Macy Frese (14) during the Trojans’ three-set sweep of the Mustangs in State Center on Thursday.

STATE CENTER — A fast start is all the West Marshall volleyball team needed to put away cross-county rival East Marshall on Thursday night.

Both teams wanted to send a message in the first couple of points in the NICL West Division clash, but it was the Trojans who would break the Mustangs early with a 25-11 first-game win.

The woes would continue for East Marshall throughout the match as West Marshall did everything it wanted to en route to a three-set sweep, 25-11, 25-6, 25-17.

Trojan head coach Erik Eckhardt said his girls showed just what they are capable of in the win.

“This was by far the best we’ve played, I said that to the girls in the locker room,” Eckhardt said. “We played well in all facets of the game, our attacking was out of the gym, we served really well and our defense was really good.”

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON - West Marshall senior Addi Moore (4) attempts to block a hit by East Marshall senior Juliana Arifi (9) during the Trojans’ three-set sweep of the Mustangs in State Center on Thursday.

On the other side, Mustang head coach Terri Westendorf said her team was so focused on coming out of the gates strong that they could never quite recover.

“Everybody knows if you’ve ever been around volleyball that momentum is a huge thing,” she said. “You come out and miss a few serve-receives and, oh my gosh, the girls get in their head and the momentum goes, and when it goes it’s hard to pull back.”

There wasn’t much intrigue in the first two sets as West Marshall (8-10, 2-1) cruised along while East Marshall (7-11, 2-3) struggled to find its footing. The Mustangs fired out in the third set, however, opening up with a 5-3 lead and holding on to go up 12-10 midway through the game, but eventually the Trojans were too much to handle.

“It was the same thing we ran into the other night against South Hardin, we kind of got ahead of ourselves thinking outside of the game,” Eckhardt said of the lull in the third set. “We try not to do that as much as possible, I am glad they came out and toughed it out to end the game.”

Westendorf said no matter what the cause, she was happy her girls came out fighting in the third set and scored as many points did as they did in the first two combined.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

“I give my girls a lot of credit for pulling it up, doing something and going in hard,” she said. “The girls that came in off the bench did a great job of stepping up and giving it all they’ve got so you have to give those girls the credit too.”

Addi Moore was the Trojan leader in two stats on the night, coming in with seven kills and five total blocks — three solo and two assists.

“Addi Moore had herself a night, which was good to see,” Eckhardt said of his senior middle. “She’s been a little frustrated lately with herself and how play has been going, so it was good to see her have a great game.”

Catherine Sjoblom, Teresa Disney and Hana Hohnstein all finished with six kills to come in second on the team, and Eckhardt said having so much variety in his attack is a blessing.

“I love that we have all the options we do,” he said. “Having four or five girls that can all hit, it makes it tough on defenses to key on one. Hana is also doing a great job getting the ball to them, not focusing on one person to get kills.”

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Sjoblom was a perfect 20-for-20 in service with seven aces, and Disney had five aces on a 14-for-15 line.

Darah Willis and Hohnstein each had 10 digs, but the strong Trojan block kept too many balls from even reaching the back row. On top of Moore’s five blocks, Disney chipped in another solo one while Sarah Pierce had two blocks in just four plays.

“I have always loved defense, I really preach defense a lot, and to have our blockers buy into the way I want them to block makes it tough to score on us,” Eckhardt said. “That’s always good to have and it is really an offensive thing even though it counts as a defensive stat. When you can go on the offensive and block people knowing where they are going to go with the ball, it’s a big help to win games.”

Juliana Arifi was the offensive leader for East Marshall with eight kills, followed by Genesis Wanatee with three and Suda Leschin with two. Zoeie Fontanini had six digs to top the defensive list while Maria Rasmusson had 15 assists.

Arifi was also the top server by going 8-for-8 from the back line with three aces.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Westendorf said her girls still lack the ability to shrug off slow starts, and that needs to change for them to see better results.

“You get yourself psyched up for that first one and it just was kind of devastating to them,” she said. “These girls are looking for confidence and that’s been something we’ve been fighting all year. It hits them pretty hard when things don’t go quite the way they had it in their minds, so you’re fighting the emotions and all that as you are going through the game.”

More than earning another win and another victory in NICL West play, Eckhardt said his girls were just fired up to beat their rivals from Le Grand.

“It’s always good to take a win from a rival,” he said. “They came in very motivated to win this thing tonight and it showed the first two games.”

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