BOURBON – After winning a second consecutive volleyball sectional title, Triton hoped to overcome Fort Wayne Blackhawk in the regional round. The Trojan cheer block was in postseason form and created a tough environment for the Lady Braves to compete. Nevertheless, Triton fell short in its effort, dropping a 25-17, 25-16, 25-14 decision Tuesday night in the Trojan Trench. The Lady Trojans scored the first two points of the match, but it was the only time Triton enjoyed a lead all evening. Blackhawk used its first service opportunity of the night to take the lead and the Lady Braves never looked back. Triton looked to move the ball deep to the Blackhawk side of the floor on each possession, but the Lady Braves adjusted easily. Blackhawk didn’t allow many scoring runs by the home team, and none greater than four points. “Well, if we’d have gone anything shorter than that, they’d have blocked us, I’m sure,” Triton head coach Samantha Willsey said. In the first set, Blackhawk used a seven-point run to build an 18-9 lead, and Triton got no closer than eight points the rest of the way. In the second set, the Braves jumped out to a 5-0 lead and inched away, while the third set saw Triton trailing 10-8 before the visitors pulled away. “I felt like we played our best game tonight,” Willsey said. “We did what we could with the ball; we were aggressive at the net like I asked. They had solid defense; it was hard for us to put the ball away tonight.” En route to winning its fourth regional title in five years, Blackhawk had to overcome the hostile environment and a motivated Trojan team looking for the upset. “I didn’t feel as though our kids played to the best of their ability at times at the start of the match,” Blackhawk head coach Lindsay Roth said. “But I’ll tell you what the difference was, Triton took us out of our element early on and just, maybe, made us play in a different direction. “I loved everything they brought; they played with passion and energy and really came in strong with blocking, and forced our hitters to really go a different direction, get some off-speed shots in there and use our right side a lot. Our kids turned it around as far as how they were playing, and got some things to go their direction. “But it was great to see the battle back and forth between the two teams and the effort that was there from, I felt, both groups tonight.” Blackhawk advanced to Saturday’s semistate at Caston, where it will face Pioneer. Triton finished its season with a 19-14 overall mark and added a sectional title to the banners hanging in the Trench. The Lady Trojans bid farewell to seniors Jaela Meister and Brooklyn Bitting, but will return five starters in 2016. “I’m proud of this season. We fought hard to get to this regional. They played well tonight, and they played well all season,” Willsey said.
