In Division One, the Cincinnati area has always been very talented when it comes to volleyball. That holds true again this year.
One of those District Championship matchups had the unbeaten Troy Trojans against a St. Ursula team with nine losses at the time of the tournament draw.
The Trojans got a first-hand look at how strong the Cincy area truly is, as they suffered a straight set 25-13, 25-19, 25-22 loss to the Bulldogs at Vandalia Butler High School on Saturday afternoon.
“They were in system a lot in game one, and it’s not that we were not in system, but we were a bit timid,” said Troy coach Michelle Owen. “They made some adjustments and we didn’t know how to respond.”
St. Ursula jumped out to a 5-3 lead in game one, and pushed their lead out to 11-6 forcing Troy to use a timeout. A kill from Lauren Freed stopped the Ursula run, but the Trojans couldn’t capitalize as they regained the momentum to take a 15-8 lead.
Again a big Troy kill from Drezanee Smith slowed down the momentum, but three consecutive points from Anna Sheanshang took their lead out to 19-9, and didn’t look back en route to the game opening win.
“When it was 19-9, I just said we had to fix things and get ready for set two,” Owen said. “We found a way to hang a little longer in that set and push for some more points.”
Troy led early in game two, with consecutive points from Freed, to give the Trojans a 3-1 lead. St. Ursula fought back to tie the game at four with three points from Mazie Kastner. After two more ties, the Bulldogs began to take control of the game when Delaney Dolle reeled off five consecutive points to take a 14-8 lead. The closest that Troy could get from that point would be 20-15, and despite some solid net play from Katie Demeo, and a big block from Smith and Camryn Moeller, the Trojans could not overcome the Bulldogs attack, as Troy fell 25-19 in game two.
Both teams battled in game three, with Troy holding a slim 15-13 lead when Freed recorded a kill. Victoria Holland recorded a pair of service points for Troy in a game where both teams missed many service chances.
St. Ursula tied the game at 17 before escaping with the win and sending the Trojans down to their first defeat of the season.
“We have come to the districts and have been aced off the court before,” Owen said. “We wanted to come and compete.”
Freed led the Trojans with 11 kills, while Demeo and Miranda Silcott each added five. Dana Wynkoop dished out 24 assists for Troy.
The 24 wins were the most wins in school history.