Here is a set by set recap from Head Coach Megan Askegard of the lady Trojans.

Set One - The first set started with both teams having a few tournament play nerves and making some mistakes back and forth on both sides of the net.  We really traded points with them to start and were able to score twice in a couple rotations which is huge when you are having some longer rallies on both sides of the net. We finally pushed when we were up 17-11 with Kenadee Gray back on the serving line and Emily Riddle putting up a big block on the net to slow things down for the Rebel offense. 19-12 when we had a 2nd contact ball handling error on our side of the net and gave the ball back over to the Rebels where we quickly set up Riddle to put us at 20. 20 is our goal of getting to before the opponents. Now we just needed to finish. Sydney Strand served 3 points including one ace before a blocking error on our side and the ball went back to DGF. Rumley Biewer killed the ball at 23-13 and then went back to serve the final two points of the set that ended with Amelia Newell putting up a solo block against the DGF outside hitter. 

Set Two - Moving into set two we definitely had the momentum on our side and you could feel the energy from the girls after getting that first set under control the way we were hoping. Kenzie Skogen went back to serve in the 2nd set and behind her tough Trojan defenders were able to take an early 8-1 lead before a ball handling error from the Trojans. We moved the ball well in this set and had a big block up on the net with our middles doing a nice job working the net. (Emily Squared- Emily Smith and Emily Riddle) were effective with Skogen and Smith really working the DGF serve receive passers in the back row and helping us make sure they were playing out of system for the majority of the set. Our lead grew to 21-11 but with a couple errors in our block near the end of the set and the DGF attackers finding some holes in our defense they really made us work to put an end to the set. The set ended with Jaida Bontjes setting the ball up the Riddle in the middle for the kill.

Set Three - The girls had the momentum and energy once again on their side and just needed to focus on finishing the 3 sets to get the match here moving into the 3rd set. Coach Tysver had her girls playing very well and with a great amount of confidence coming into the 3rd set. They really battled back and made us work for every point. We trailed the Rebels at the start of the set 2-10 before Riddle laid down a huge attack kill from the middle. We had a lot of ground to make up with a slow start to the set. We really chipped away at this marathon of a match, however we played not as aggressively as we did in the first two sets and the Rebels really took advantage of our mistakes and lack of confidence here in the 3rd set. They were not ready to see their season come to an end just yet. We moved in closer and trailed 19-20, however we just couldn’t make that final push to catch them.  

Set Four - The fourth set of the night had a fun tournament atmosphere taking place in the new BSA in Barnesville. Both teams and student sections were on their feet. Biewer came out hot serving the first 4 points of the set with 2 aces off the bat. There were many hustle plays and balls picked up by both sides of the net that many players thought were not coming back. Both teams had hitters being aggressive on the net and it was for sure some fun volleyball to watch. We were tied up 18-18 when we had an error on defense and attacking at the net and DGF when ahead 18-21. We were able to side out with a backrow attack ball from Kailey Olson which put Kenadee Gray back on the serving line 19-21. Biewer and Riddle had a big block up on the net and Gray scored on a Serve receive error on the Rebels to tie things up at 21. There was a huge rally on both sides of the net when Riddle ended it off a dig from Strand to Biewer and set up to her in the middle. Kenadee served match point but a passing error in the back court sent the ball back to the Rebels for match point. We took a minute to talk things over before we ended the set with a nice pass from Olson to Biewer who set up Skogen in the front row to put an end of the match. 

Stat leaders for Barnesville were Belle Peterson (13 kills), Riddle (13 kills, 2 solo blocks, 3 block assists), Smith (11 kills, 14/14 serving, 2 solo blocks, 3 block assists), Strand (24 digs, 11/12 serving, 1 ace), Skogen (13 digs, 19/19 serving, 1 ace), Biewer (36 set assists, 15/15 serving, 2 aces, 9 digs, 2 block assists), Newell (11/12 serving, 1 ace, 7 set assists, 2 solo blocks, 2 block assists) and Gray (21/21 serving, 1 ace, 9 digs).