LOOGOOTEE
This Saturday the Trinity Lutheran volleyball team will make a trip to a destination it hasn’t been to since 2011.
The Cougars qualified for the Jasper semistate as a result of knocking off Springs Valley and Loogootee in the Class 1A regional this past Saturday.
The Cougars lost to Loogootee 25-12 in the opening set Saturday, and after coach Faith Wilder-Newland made a rotation change, the Cougars came storming back with 25-18, 25-20, 25-13 wins.
Trinity continued its domination against Springs Valley in the finals with 25-19, 25-15, 25-13 wins.
The Cougars (29-5) will face Bloomfield, who defeated Hauser 3-2 in the Morristown Regional. Trinity will play Bloomfield at 4 p.m., and that match will be followed by Brownstown Central battling Evansville Memorial.
“It was a good team effort, especially in the morning round. We had to come back from being one set down. I thought that was a really big win for us," Wilder-Newland said. “Tonight we really did not play well at first, we missed a lot of serves, and it took a lot just to settle down, play our game and cut down on our mistakes.”
The Blackhawks held a 4-1 lead in the first set before the Cougars pulled even at 4-4 and the score stayed close until Elly Carter served four straight points to put Trinity on top for good at 13-9.
Hannah Sabotin had six attack kills for points the last half of the set and led her team with 24-27-15 for the match after having 18 kills against Loogootee.
The second set was tied at 6-6 before back-to-back kills by Sydney Jaynes and Bailey Tabeling put Trinity on top for good. An ace by Bailey Reynolds put the Cougars on top 16-8 before Valley rallied to close to 16-13.
A block by Sabotin and Kennedy Hoffman came in the middle of a 4-0 run that set the score 20-13, and the Cougars closed the set on a 5-2 charge.
The Cougars wanted to make sure they wrapped the match up in three sets as they moved on top 6-1 on one of Hoffman’s eight kills in this match.
The Blackhawks stayed close at 10-7 before Carter’s serving increased Trinity’s lead to 14-7, and match point came on a kill by Jaynes, who finished 22-25-10 in attacks.
“Overall I thought we the kids handled the pressure pretty well, and looked really good at the net. We’ve got to keep working on our serving," Wilder-Newland said. “It takes a whole group of them. Bailey (Reynolds) is doing a great job setting. Our digging has gotten a lot better, and serve receive.”
The Cougars served seven aces against Valley with Reynolds and Kamzi Gross each getting two.
Hoffman and Jaynes each had eight kills as the Cougars totaled 32 in that department. Reynolds had 29 assists, while Gross was the leader in digs with 12.
Wilder Newland said Loogootee had done a good job of scouting her Cougars as they built leads of 5-0, 13-4, and 20-6 in rolling in the first set.
“I rotated my line up three rotations because I knew they had prepared all week for us and the way we had started so I thought I’m just going to switch it up and rotate our line up and see what happens,” she said.
The Lions started out strong again, leading 3-0 before the Cougars pulled even at 6-6 on a kill by Sabotin. A kill by Carter put the Cougars on top 9-6 and a pair of aces from Sabotin gave her team a 13-9 lead, and although the Lions closed to trail 13-12, Ruthie Bingham came back with an ace and the Cougars pulled away.
Loogootee led 9-4 early in the third set before Gross served her team into a 14-9 lead the Cougars were in front to stay. Gross also had an ace for set point.
A kill by Tabeling put Trinity on top 9-4 in the fourth set, and the Cougars had leads of 12-5, 17-10 and 21-11 to coast.
Gross was 16-16-3 and Reynolds was 16-17-1 in serves. Jaynes had 10 kills, Hoffman had eight and Reynolds seven. Reynolds had 36 assists, Gross led in digs with 18, Reynolds had 13 and Carter 10.
“It’s an amazing feeling," Trinity senior Hannah Sabotin said. "Just putting in all the hard work all four years and finally making it past the elite eight we got last year.
"Loogootee was a very strong team," she continued. "They had scouted us well, so we just wanted to change around our lineup so we were throwing a few different things at them that they weren’t expecting.”
Sabotin is looking forward to the trip to the semi state but said the Cougars will have to eliminate errors.
“We just need to make sure that we cut down on our personnel errors, our serving errors, our hitting errors and make sure we’re mentally focused and strong,” she concluded.
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Trinity Lutheran’s 2019 Regional Championship Roster
Senior: Hannah Sabotin.
Juniors: Bailey Reynolds, Kennedy Hoffman, Elly Carter, Sydney Jaynes.
Sophomores: Kayla Goecker, Estella Kleffman, Kamzi Gross, Paige Lawrence, Ruthie Bingham.
Freshman: Bailey Tabeling.
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