Seniors on the Trinity Lutheran volleyball team believe that if they continue to play at a high level like they did in winning the sectional last week that they have an excellent chance to knock off South Decatur at the Edinburgh Regional Saturday night.

There will be two Class 1A matches in Edinburgh with Indiana Deaf School playing Indianapolis Lutheran at 4 p.m. and Trinity (26-8) will play South Decatur (27-4) at 7 p.m.

Laura Roeder, who leads the Cougars in serving aces (70), digs (522) and serve receptions (624) said, “I don’t think it’s any different (winning this sectional) because every year we’re still looking to put a (state championship) banner on the wall. Other than the fact that I’m not going to get to do it again, it feels the same.

“I think this year we’ve done a really good job of being a team and competing together, and I think the score today showed in our overall stats that we’ve worked pretty well together and we’re just going to build on that and go from there.”

Roeder said she enjoys playing the libero position.

“I help the back row, and I tell the hitters where to hit. I know the tendencies of most of the other hitters, so I know where the other team is going to hit a lot. I study that.”

Aniston Bostic leads Decatur in kills with 269, Taylor Somers leads her team in blocks (66) and assists (719), and Zsophia Sharp is the team leader in aces (59) and digs (296).

Madison Keith, who had eight kills against Rising Sun said holding the sectional trophy “feels pretty good. I love putting another number up there on the wall, so when I get to look at it when I come in here it is nice.”

When the Cougars defeated Rising Sun 25-9, 25-8, 25-7 Saturday night it marked Trinity’s 11th straight sectional title in volleyball.

Keith said, “I’d say this one feels pretty close to my freshman year when we went to state. I have a really good feeling that we can make it back.”

She says one of the things that makes this team successful is the depth.

“We had a lot of people come off the bench again tonight and we all played really well. We all really wanted it. We weren’t losing to anybody tonight.

“I like volleyball because in basketball it could be one person that wins it for everybody, but in volleyball you need every single person, you rely on each other, you trust each other. It takes a team effort, and I like how close you get to all the girls and it’s just a family.”

Keith said she takes pride in being a senior leader. “I want to set a good example, I want them to see that you can have fun, but you can also work hard at the same time, and I just want to leave a positive

impression on the younger kids so that they can carry on the tradition of winning, just keep it a good, fun program.

“It just shows that when we’re in the gym we work hard, that we work harder than anybody else in the state. We get after it.”

Carson Bowling, who leads the team in kills with (310) said, “A lot of schools aren’t as lucky as we are. We have a pretty easy sectional so we can win almost every year. I would say (sectional titles) are all equal, and special.

“When I was a freshman, I may not have been the best hitter, but I still contributed a lot and it was special to win with all the seniors, especially now that one of the seniors (Ruth Bingham) is now one of our coaches.”

Coach Janet VanLiew commented after the championship match how Rising Sun had trouble defending Trinity’s ‘quick’ offense.

Bowling said, “We all work well together, because if we can get a good pass, we can get a good set and get a good hit so for us to play well everyone needs to be doing their job. We pulled that off well tonight.

“(Practice) is really important. It is important that we focus at practice and stay nice to each other and talk about everything.

“Hopefully, we can still play together (at regional), and everyone does their part, which we have been doing recently. I feel in the past year we’ve haven’t been strong as a team. This year I think we’ve got it. We’re all good leaders.”