This past Tuesday, September 5th, the Trojans played a phenomenal game against the defending state champions from Snowflake. The VC girls won in three sets, sweeping the Lobos in front of a great crowd. Even though all three sets were close, the Trojans seemed to dominate the game.
The young volleyball core of one senior, six juniors, and two sophomores showed out, and the team also had three freshmen on the court: Sydney Simon, Ansley Venkatesh, and Sadie Wahlin. At several points in the match all three freshmen were on the court at the same time, playing well, and proving they have a lot to add to Trojan volleyball this year. Standout freshman Sadie Wahlin shared about the intense first home game of her high school career; "I was really nervous at first and then I realized, I'm with my friends! Everyone was hyping everyone else up and I got out of my head. It's just such a good environment here, whether we were doing good or bad...we keep the energy up". Sadie had 12 attempts and six kills in the match, ending with a 50% kill percentage. Very impressive.
Sophomore Claire Gilbert had an amazing game as well. She had 4 service aces on 15 attempts, with only one error, leading the team with a 26.7 Ace Percentage. On defense Claire had 14 digs with only two errors.
Senior Captain Avery Schmidt and Junior Taylor Miser added in many digs as well. Avery had 14 attempts with no errors, while Taylor had 13 attempts with only one error. Avery carried the load on serve receive against the Lobos with 26 receptions and only three errors. Claire was trailing her in receptions with 19 attempts and 3 errors.
While the scores of each set were relatively close, the stats show that the Trojans played a pretty good game.
Later in the week, on Thursday, the Trojans played against Fountain Hills, and played great. The Trojans came out on top 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-14). This game was not as close as the Snowflake matchup, but the Trojans did not down their guard. Junior Kelsey Brooks played an unbelievable offensive game and was able to get 17 kills on 26 attempts, hitting an impressive .615 on the night. Kelsey was followed by junior Taylor Miser who chipped in 8 kills, and junior Ellie Stuber and sophomore Claire Gilbert who each added 6.
Freshman Sadie Wahlin continued to play incredible and was able to get 8 blocks and 3 kills for the Trojans.
Senior Avery Schmidt led on defense and was able to secure 19 digs in the victory.
Overall, in the second week of regular season play and first week of home games, it is obvious that the Trojan volleyball team is well balanced and has multiple weapons this year. We are excited to see them to continue to succeed as a team and can't wait to watch them continue to dominate this year!
The Trojans play again today in the Westwood Tournament of Champions. Games will be played all day on Friday, September 8th and Saturday, September 9th. The Trojans are looking forward to challenging themselves by taking on some bigger schools like Mountain Pointe, Mountain View, Basha, and Tempe.
Good Luck Trojans!
