The quickness, and play at the net, of the Trinity Lutheran volleyball team was too much for Borden to handle Thursday night in the Bollinger Athletic Complex.

The Cougars took early leads in all three sets for a 25-5, 25-11, 25-13 win.

Cougars coach Chelsea Stroub was pleased with the play of her team.

“I think, overall, we did really well,” she said. “We played our game, we played our speed and tempo. We didn’t play to the level of our opponent; we just stayed up top. We stayed quick and we had fun, the girls were having a blast, and that’s what it’s all about.”

[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]

Click here to purchase photos from this gallery

After a Borden player served into the net on the opening serve of the match, Bailey Reynolds served the Cougars to an 11-0 lead before Trinity had an attacking error.

Abby Schult had two kills, Hannah Sabotin had a block and two kills, and Sydney Stahl had a block for Trinity points during the rally.

The Cougars didn’t allow the Braves to score consecutive points in this set, and the final point came on an attack by Reynolds.

Sabotin had two kills early in the second set when the Cougars broke a 1-1 tie with six straight points.

A kill by Lauren Knieriem put the Cougars on top 14-3 before Borden mounted a rally with a 7-3 surge for a 17-10 score.

Trinity finished on an 8-1 rally, with Reynolds serving an ace for the 25th point.

Borden held a 3-1 lead in the third set before a kill by Stahl tied the score at 3-3. The teams were even at 6-6 when Courtney Barker served straight points and the Cougars were in front to stay. Schult had back-to-back blocks that put her team in the lead at 11-6, and a kill by Knieriem doubled Trinity’s lead.

Abby Hackman and Kennedy Hoffman both had two kills late in the set when the Cougars pulled away to the win.

Hackman led the Cougars with nine kills, Sabotin had seven and Reynolds totaled nine. As a team, the Cougars were 64-for-76 with 33 kills.

Serving, Reynolds, Knieriem and Sabotin each had three aces.

Knieriem led the Cougars with 12 digs and Reynolds topped the team with 19 assists.

“Our passing, setting and hitting was all good,” Stroub said. “We were getting a lot of good swings because our passing and setting were really good. We also had really aggressive serving. That really kept us in the game. We had a lot of aces tonight.”

The Cougars (2-0) will return to action Tuesday at Waldron.

“We’ll probably keep working on our play sets and stuff like that, making sure everybody knows where they’re going, a lot of team stuff,” Stroub said.