HOPE

A bit of fatigue set in for the Trinity Lutheran volleyball team, which played its third game in three days Thursday at Class A No. 5-ranked Hauser.

The Cougars played a tight first set with the Jets, falling by just three points before going on to take a 25-22, 25-16, 25-18 defeat.

Trinity coach Chelsea Stroub said she thought her team could have played a lot better.

“We didn’t really play to our potential, so that was the frustrating thing,” Stroub said. “Whenever we had a good pass, though, we normally could run our offense. I was pleased with that.”

The Cougars (10-11) scored five of the last eight points of the first set, but could not carry that momentum into the second set. The Jets (21-3) jumped out to an early 5-1 lead and Trinity could not find a way to recover from the slow start.

The Cougars had a better start to the third set and stayed within striking distance at 21-18. Hauser took the final four points to get their fourth consecutive victory.

Stroub said her players struggled to return the Jets’ aggressive serves, which caused Trinity to struggle. The Cougars also had a few costly missed serves during the match.

“Our serve-receive was a little bit of everywhere,” Stroub said. “We just weren’t moving our feet, so then we just couldn’t run anything. I’d say that was a big thing.”

Hannah Sabotin led Trinity with 11 kills, and Abby Schult added five and Bailey Reynolds had three. Sydney Jaynes served two aces, and Chloe Criswell led the team in digs with 16. Ashley Goecker also had 14 digs, while Courtney Barker recorded 27 assists.

Trinity has one day off before hosting the Cougar Invitational on Saturday. Stroub said the Cougars will get back in the gym to work on serves and serve receives to get ready for the tournament.

“We need to work on mental stability in playing three games in a row, and just pushing ourselves harder,” Sabotin said.