The Trinity Lutheran volleyball team had little trouble picking up its 11th straight Class 1A sectional volleyball trophy on Saturday, beating Rising Sun 25-9, 25-8, 25-7 Saturday night at the Bollinger Athletic Complex.

Earlier Saturday, Trinity eliminated Hauser 25-9, 25-8, 25-7 while Rising Sun was defeating Milan in four sets in the other semifinal.

The win advances the Cougars (27-8) to the Edinburgh Regional where they will face South Decatur at 7 p.m. Saturday. Indiana Deaf will play Indianapolis Lutheran at 4 p.m. in Edinburgh.

“Honestly, this morning I thought we were a little bit slow, but I thought we were on it tonight,” Coach Janet VanLiew said after the championship match. “We were very sharp and just came out serving very aggressively and just transitioned and did a lot of nice things. The girls were ready to go.”

Trinity dominated all three sets against Rising Sun from the start.

Early on, the Cougars did a good job of setting up Carson Bowling for kills at the net, and her third kill gave Trinity a 6-2 lead. The Shiners did cut Trinity’s lead to 7-5, but Trinity opened an 11-5 lead, and after a Rising Sun point, Rachel Bonde had a pair of kills and Bowling served a pair of aces to boost the score to 17-6. Bailey Bonde had a kill for set point.

Trinity served 20 aces for the night, and Laura Roeder served three of those as Trinity took an 8-0 lead at the beginning of the second set, and Presley Meyer served back-to-back aces during another 8-0 run that put Trinity on top 19-3.

Bella Wehmiller served the final point of the set when her serve hit the top of the net and rolled over and hit the floor.

The Cougars were leading 5-3 in the third set when Bowling and Madison Keith had back-to-back kills that began a 14-0 run. Ava Blomenberg served seven aces during that rally and was 13-14-7 for the match.

Match point came on a passing error by the Shiners.

Blomenberg said she has never had a set like that third one where she served ace after ace.

“Usually, I don’t even serve. This is the first time that I’ve really served during my four years in high school. I felt confident in my serve, and I also felt confident in my team’s ability to return the ball. I just thought, ‘I’m going to be aggressive and go after it since it’s something I don’t get to do very often.’

“It feels so great just to be in this position, and be blessed how we are, and I think we’ve been so blessed to be sectional champions the past four years. “I think all five (seniors) are leading the group. We need to keep strong as a team (at the regional) and do what we’re doing, have fun on the court and being aggressive. Our serve receive needs to be on point as well as our serving, attacking and everything like that.”

VanLiew talked about the teamwork the team showed was outstanding.

“The transition, just getting the ball to the setter and then running our quick offense was just something that they couldn’t adjust to. It was nice to play here. Last year we were at Medora. Each group of seniors is different, and it was nice that this group of seniors got to experience this on their home floor.”

Addison Darlage, Blomenberg, Roeder, Keith and Bowling are the seniors on this team, and they have never lost a sectional match during their four years at TLHS.

Darlage had 30 assists, Roeder had 11 digs and was 12-14-3 in serves, Bowling was 14-16-13 in kills, Keith was 15-15-8, Darlage was 5-5-4 and Blomenberg was 6-7-3.

In the win over Hauser, Zoey Dulaney was 11-11-4 in serves, and bowling also had four aces. Rachel Bonde was 15-16-8 and Blomenberg was 12-13-8 in kills, and Roeder had 17 digs.

“They worked incredibly hard to reach their goals, and this is just one step in the process. Process,” VanLiew said.

Darlage who has been the Cougars’ setter for four years and had 26 assists against Hauser said, “All the sectionals have been nice. This one just feels more real. Everything is becoming real to me, how I only have a few weeks left.”

All the seniors have served as captains during the season, and Darlage said she enjoyed filling that role.

She said teamwork has been a key to their success. “We’re all working really well together as a team this year. We’ve been working hard in practice every chance we get, and I just feel like we put it all together and do really well in matches.”

Darlage said she enjoys being a back-row specialist. “I like playing defense and get the balls that are shanked.”

She said during practice, the managers put chairs on the court on the other side of the net. “We can’t hit the chairs. We have certain zones we have to hit, and we have to hit below the antenna for the aggressiveness.

“I’m looking for the competitiveness and winning and keep going at the regional.”

Agate

Trinity Lutheran Sectional — Saturday

Championship

Trinity Lutheran 3, Rising Sun 0

Trinity def. Rising Sun 25-9, 25-8, 25-7

Trinity serving- Roeder 12-14-3, Meyer 6-7-2, Blomenberg 13-14-7, team 60-70-20

Trinity attacks- Bowling 14-16-13, R. Bonde 6-6-4, Keith 15-15-8, Darlage 5-5-4, Blomenberg 6-7-3, B. Bonde 4-4-3, team 55-59-38

Digs- Roeder 11

Assists- Darlage 30

Trinity record 27-8

Semi-finals

Trinity Lutheran 3, Hauser 0

Trinity def. Hauser 25-6, 25-11, 25-10

Trinity serving- Zoey Dulaney 11-11-4, Presley Meyer 9-10-1, Carson Bowling 7-8-4, team 65-73-14

Trinity attacking- Bowling 8-10-5, Rachel Bonde 15-0`16-8, Madison Keith 5-5-4, Addie Darlage 10-11-6, Ava Blomenberg 12-13-8, Bailey Bonde 7-7-4, team 55-62-37

Assists- Darlage 26, Roeder 5

Digs- Roeder 17