AKRON — The Tippecanoe Valley volleyball team picked up its 11th victory Thursday night at home, defeating the Triton Lady Trojans in three games, 25-8, 25-23, 25-15. Improving to 11-4 on the year, first-year coach Mallory Eaton has inherited a Lady Vikings team with talent, but continues to groom it with each match. “We’re growing,” she said. “You don’t want to peak yet, because I want to save it for sectional time – when it really matters. We’re getting better every time we go out. These girls have been through a lot of coaches and they’re buying in to what I’m saying and they’re making their changes, which is hard.” Among the improvements has been the team’s defense, which made it tough for the Lady Trojans to find open space for kills. “Our defense has really improved,” Eaton said. “We’re getting a lot more movement. At the beginning of the year, that was a problem. We’re also getting a lot more girls involved in the offense. That’s nice, because we don’t want to be a one-trick pony. We want to be able to spread the ball out and be able to hit them from all fronts.” When spreading the ball around, it was most beneficial when it came around to junior Caylie Teel, who led the Lady Vikings with 11 kills. But it wasn’t just slamming the ball that Teel was busy doing, as she was positioned all over the court, including the back line, where she posted a team-high 14 digs. “She’s a rock for us,” Eaton said of Teel. “She’s so smart and brings a lot to the table, but she’s still takes in everything I tell her. She’s learning everyday. She’s making smarter shots. It doesn’t always have to be a kill that’s 100 miles an hour. Sometimes, the best plays are the short, little dinks because the defense is playing so far back.” Teel may have hit the hardest shots, but it was freshman Anne Secrest who received the most opportunities from her outside hitter position. “She actually doesn’t have that much experience, because she’s more of a basketball player, but she has that competitive drive,” Eaton said of the freshman who’s cracked the starting lineup. “She wants to get better at everything. She came in really raw and has the drive and leadership qualities that you really don't see in a freshman.” On the other side of the net, second-year Triton coach Samantha Keel is attempting to correlate what she sees in practice to what she sees during matches. “We’ve had great practices all week, and then we come out and play like this,” she said. “I don’t know if I’m going to have to go back and look at tape. I don’t know what it is. For some reason, we practice so well during the week, and then when it comes to playing a team like Valley or Knox, who’s a big conference rival, we just fall apart.” Triton didn't have any time to fall apart in the opening game, falling behind 17-4 before losing 25-8, but things went a lot better in the second game. Opening Game 2 on top 4-0, Triton led 19-15, before Valley reeled off six-straight points to take a 21-19 lead. Triton fought back to tie the game at 21-21, but Valley scored four of the last six points, getting the win and a 2-0 match lead. “We tend to play a little up-and-down,” Keel said. “We can start off in a game 8-0, then be down, then come back to win by 10. I don’t know why that is, but when you find a team like Valley, once they have the lead, they’re going to take it and they’re going to run with it.” The close second game was a far cry from the opener, but Eaton wasn’t completely shocked by it. “Sometimes it’s almost worse when you crush a team in the first game, because they kind of get lackadaisical – they get comfortable,” Eaton said. “Then, we were just on our heels, not ready to make plays. Any team will fight harder. We just had to refocus and realize the game wasn't over.” The third game saw Valley get off to a 5-0 start and never look back, as it now looks ahead to Tuesday, when it travels to face another Northern State Conference team at LaVille. For Triton, it hosts its own tournament Saturday and Keel is hoping to see some significant change. “The frustrating part is knowing what I’ve taught them and seeing them not doing it,” she said. “That’s where it gets frustrating.”
TIPPECANOE VALLEY DEF. TRITON 25-8, 25-23, 25-15 Aces – Kelsey Eckert (TV) 2, Jaela Meister (Tr) 2; Assists – Tenaya Shull (TV) 9; Blocks – Sara Alexander (TV) 2, Meister (Tr) 1.5; Digs – Caylie Teel (TV) 14; Kills – Teel (TV) 11, Meister (Tr) 5, Emilee Koontz (Tr) 5, Lauren Hostrawser (Tr) 3 Records: Valley 11-4, Triton 2-3 JV – Valley def. Triton 25-12, 25-19 Valley JV Stats: Aces – Lexi O’Connell 5; Assists – Maddy Heninger 16; Digs – Maddi Miller 4, Abby Betten 4, Whitney Haneline 4; Kills – O’Connell 5, Rebecca Murphy 5
