Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

ARCANUM — It was a hard fought match between Tri-Village High School and Arcanum High School volleyball. In the end, the Lady Patriots won the match, 3-0.

This wasn’t an ordinary easy sweep. The Lady Trojans hung around and competed in the last two sets. They were there right up there until the end.

Tri-Village head coach Chris Brewer said the game between them and Arcanum, along with Franklin Monroe, have become rivalries.

“Every game we play whether here, there or where ever is a rivalry game. You can tell, the girls are all pumped up and there’s bigger crowds. I’m glad we rose to the occasion,” Brewer said.

Arcanum head coach Jacie Holman said she wanted to see her team compete against Tri-Village, even in a rebuilding year. Holman believes her team can reach a higher level of play this season.

“It’s still early in the season, I keep saying that, but I know we can get there. We have just got to put all of our pieces together,” Holman said.

Tri-Village was coming off a tough home loss to undefeated Newton last week. Brewer said he was worried his team would start off slow after that loss. It was the complete opposite.

The Lady Patriots came out firing on all cylinders. Their offense was efficient and got Arcanum out of their system. The front line got a few blocks and made life easier on the back line. The serving and serve receive was working.

It was too much to handle for the Lady Trojans. Tri-Village took the first set 25-10. Holman took her team to the locker room after the set to rally the team.

“We went in between the first and second set and we said,’That is not how Arcanum volleyball plays,’” Holman said. “We really stepped it up. It just wasn’t enough, we couldn’t push enough to get those last two sets and try to make it into four or five sets.”

The Lady Trojans did step it up. The offense started to click and the defense started to have great stretches of play.

They were able to force Tri-Village into some errors and made the last two sets close. However, the Patriots kept calm and found a way to win.

Tri-Village took the second set 25-20 and the third set 25-22. Arcanum made Tri-Village earn their sweep.

Brewer said all phases of the game helped his team get the win at Arcanum.

“Today, more than it has been in the years past, it was a team effort. You see everybody contributing. We may have sometimes in the past rely heavily on a big hitter to get hot or something like that,” Brewer said. “These games here, we’re winning in serve; we’re doing good in serve receive; we’re hustling getting the ball up and then you got certain, different girls getting kills.”

Brewer also highlighted two seniors on his team that had great games.

First, Brewer said Morgan Hunt have been in the shadows for a while behind some players in the past. She now has an opportunity to show what she is capable of.

Brewer said she was smart with her hits today and didn’t have too many errors. Hunt was a part of a great Tri-Village offense that was able to find the open spots during this match.

Brewer also said Shelby Mintekenbaugh has done a great job playing out of position the last couple of years. She is naturally a defensive specialist, but is the setter for the team as she is the best setter on the team. He said Mintekenbaugh has worked hard for them and leaves it all out on the court for them.

The Lady Patriots are now 6-3 on the season and will travel to Ansonia on Sept. 15. The Lady Trojans are now 4-4 on the season after playing arguably the top three teams in the conference in three of their last four games. They will travel to Mississinawa Valley on Sept. 15.