Bollinger Athletic Complex hosted Trinity Lutheran’s volleyball match with Greenwood Christian Academy on Tuesday evening. In a battle of the ‘Cougars’ between two solid volleyball squads.

Trinity Lutheran made their share of mistakes, but never let it get the best of them, prevailing over Greenwood Christian in straight sets, winning the matchup, 25-17, 25-19, and 25-21. The victory improves Class A #1 Trinity to 13-6 during the 2024 season.

Head Coach Janet VanLiew spoke about the win afterwards.

“They’re a good team that plays well together and shows a lot of energy,” VanLiew said. “They really come at you, and we just made too many mistakes tonight. Greenwood Christian is a strong defensive team, and they challenged us.”

Trinity had Greenwood in the first set at 5-2 after Addie Darlage fooled the opposition with a smooth kill. Greenwood rallied before Ava Blomenberg had back-to-back kills to make it a 15-9 game.

Trinity then led 22-14, before Rachel Bonde scored the final three points to end the opening set.

It was even more of a battle in the second set as both teams were struggling to gain much of an advantage over the other. It was 11-10 at one point and 16-14 at another, still in favor of the home team.

Trinity buckled down at the end of the second set leading 23-19, before finishing the set with a 25-19 win. Laura Roeder began the final set with an ace, before Blomenberg scored the next point to make it 2-0. GCA rallied again, taking the 7-4 lead over the home team.

Madison Keith then exploded for the spike, right before Rachel Bonde scored another point and before you knew it, Trinity held a 10-8 lead.

It got a little close for Trinity’s liking tied at 16, but the team did not give in. A huge block from Rachel Bonde and Keith send the home crowd into a frenzy to take a 21-18 lead.

GCA then scored after a replayed point, before Bailey Bonde called game with a huge block to end the match in three sets.

Addie Darlage led the team in assists with 30 of them, speaking on her performance and the teams on Tuesday evening.

“As I player I felt like I could have stepped up a little more on offense,” Darlage said. “As a team I feel we all could have stepped up a little more, we did not play our best, but we did not play our worst. It was just an okay performance.”

Darlage also had 6 kills. Teammate Ava Blomenberg led the team with 10 kills.

Blomenberg and Coach VanLiew spoke on why they are having success this season as a team.

“Our team bondage has been great this year,” Darlage said “We all get along very well, and we do everything together. We also gel and overall, we play well together as a team.”

The head coach believes the strong schedule Trinity has played will pay off eventually.

“We’ve competed against some of the best competition in the state and have defeated some of them,” VanLiew said. “I truly believe that it will pay off for us in the long run.”

Five of Trinity’s six losses this season are to Top 10 teams in their classes, all of which were in higher classes than 1A.

Senior Blomenberg spoke about her 2024 senior group, which includes herself, Darlage, Keith, Roeder, and Carson Bowling.

“Friendships are my favorite part of it, we are all like sisters and I love it,” Blomenberg said. “We just feel like family, and we are all close.”

The seniors and head coach gave their insight on what they must improve on before the postseason begins in a couple of weeks.

“We need to work on our blocking, serving, and serve-receiving before the end of the season,” Blomenberg said.

“We have to speed up our offense,” Darlage said.

Coach VanLiew agreed with both players on what they said.

“Our serving has to be more consistent, and we have got to be able to block better,” she said.

Trinity’s JV team won their match over GCA, 25-13, and 25-11 to improve to 8-1 this year.

The Cougars will host their Pink Out game tomorrow against Hauser, beginning with the JV match at 6 p.m.

The school will recognize all girls who attended the Trinity Lutheran volleyball camp between the JV and Varsity matches.

They will also be accepting cash donations throughout the night and all proceeds will be given to Hope Medora Goes Pink. Also, the Lady Cougars volleyball team will be providing fun activities for the campers during both games.

There will be games, prizes, pink tattoos, pink ribbons, and a picture station for the campers.

Trinity Lutheran 3, Greenwood Christian Academy 0

Trinity Lutheran def. Greenwood Christian Academy, 25-17, 25-19, 25-21

Serve-Attempt-Aces

Serving: Carson Bowling, 13-13-1, Zoey Dulaney, 10-10-0, Laura Roeder, 10-13-1, Madison Keith, 7-7-0, Maddie Adams, 6-10-2, Team 63-74-4

Attempts-Total-Kills

Hitting: Madison Keith, 19-24-8, Ava Blomenberg, 15-17-10, Addie Darlage, 8-8-6, Carson Bowling, 6-9-5, Rachel Bonde, 11-13-6, Bailey Bonde, 6-9-5, Team, 69-86-42

Assists: Addie Darlage, 30.

Digs: Laura Roeder, 10.

Blocks: Rachel Bonde, 5.