BOURBON – Triton senior Jaela Meister led her team to a 25-11, 25-16, 18-25, 25-20 win over Wawasee in the Trojan Trench Tuesday night. Meister finished with 24 kills, five digs and an ace for the Lady Trojans. “That No. 5 (Meister); anytime they got the ball to her, it was difficult to stop her,” said Wawasee interim head coach Ryan Edgar. The Lady Warriors have won just three matches this season against 25 losses. After Triton rolled to a first-set win, the second set was tied at 11 before the Lady Trojans rolled off eight straight points to take control. From there, Edgar talked to his team about standing up for themselves. “The last couple of games I’ve been talking to the team about ‘we need leadership.’ We need girls that when they make a mistake, they don’t put their heads down, but they come right back and fire each other up; they’re firing the team up,” he said. “After that second game I said ‘we have an option. We can be done in three and go home and feel sorry for ourselves. Or you guys can fight.’ And when I’ve seen them fight before, they’re able to play. We used our hitters a lot more in that third game. We started passing the ball up, we set the ball up. The girls know if we’re hitting the ball well, other teams can’t hammer the ball back at us, and that’s been our downfall; we’re always playing defensive volleyball.” Seaquinn Bright and Hannah-Marie Lamle paced the Warriors with seven kills each, and Madi Wilson was credited with 32 digs for Wawasee. On the other bench, Triton head coach Samantha Willsey was quick to credit her entire team for the effort. Nichole Sechrist had five digs and four kills, with Courtney Jennings, Brooklyn Bitting and Emma Ross adding two kills each. Defensively, the team combined for 22 digs, with Sechrist getting eight. Quinn Downing Emma Ross and Hannah Wanemacher had three digs each. “Everybody was playing well tonight. Our defense was spectacular,” said Willsey. “We had great ball control, I’ve been emphasizing first contact, it’s so important. And all of my hitters have been stepping up, it’s not just our two outsider hitters. Everybody is starting to step up and take care of the ball.” With the win, Triton improved to 16-12 on the season and will host Plymouth Thursday. Willsey said her team is peaking at the right time, with sectional play beginning next week. “This is exciting; it feels good to start playing like this,” she said. “Everybody is starting to click at the exact right time.”
