“We were up 7-4 after trading points with the Hornets before our serving and defense picked up the intensity and was able to string together a couple more points at a time,” reported Head Coach Megan Askegard of Barnesville. “The girls started to play more aggressively on offense and made sure that our 3rd contact ball was a smart one and we weren't’ giving them any free points. We were able to stretch our lead to 15-8 when Kenzie Skogen (14/15 serving, 2 aces, 5 kills, 11 digs) went back to the serving line and had back to back aces to help push our lead to 20-9 when a ball came poorly off our block and ended our scoring run. The girls made some great adjustments on their timing on the net and Emily Riddle (2 solo blocks, 2 block assists, 6 kills) came up with a big solo block near the end of the set which brought the ball came to our side for Rumley Biewer (20 set assists, 9/10 serving, 7 digs, 4 kills, 2 block assists) to set her up for the final kill to end the set.” 

Askegard continued, “Our serve receiving passing tonight was near perfect and we really put our setters in a great position to set the ball up to their hitters and keep us in our offensive system. We trailed the Hornets in the second set and had a hard time getting that momentum back and stringing runs of points together. We tied the Hornets up at 9-9 and the set continued to stay close throughout. We had some 3rd contact errors and our block was still early for their hitters. Our defense was picking up some great balls in the backrow, we just needed to find our hitters and they needed to finish the point for us. Emily Smith (18/18 serving, 4 aces, 5 kills) and Amelia Newell (15/17 serving, 2 aces, 3 kills) had a couple nice serving aces to help us take the lead 21-13 before a hitting error ended our run. We had too many errors when we were sitting so close to the end of the set. This is where we really need to dig in and work has a whole unit to finish off the set. Frazee really came out attacking and serving us tough.” 

Emily Smith went back to the serving line early in the third set and took the lead up to 8-3 with an Ace serve before the Trojans had an error on the defensive side. Barnesville continued to pass well and put their hitters into great positions to score points. “We hesitated a little bit in the backrow due to our blockers being off in the front, however, we made many great hustle plays and picked up some big plays to gain the momentum back and move the set along,” stated Coach Askegard. “Belle Peterson 4 kills, 1 solo block) came up with a huge solo block while Emily Smith was stringing serving points together to score 6 points in a row before a ball came through our block. The match ended tonight with a double block on the net with Rumley and Emily Riddle.” 

Sydney Strand led the defensive effort with 14 digs and was 4-for-4 on the serving line.  Kenadee Gray was a perfect 7-for-7 serving as the Trojans finished the night 70-for-74 as a team.

No Frazee stats were reported.

The Trojans are on the road Tuesday to Pine River.