TIppecanoe Valley’s Makenie Woodcox hammers home one of her 14 kills against Triton Thursday night. (Photos by Mike Deak)

AKRON – A month ago, or even a week ago, the volleyball matchup between Triton and Tippecanoe Valley on paper looked very lopsided. After Triton pulled off a major upset Wednesday night, Thursday’s contest had some extra juice.

Valley, however, wasn’t interested in being another upset on the Triton mantle and handled its business at home in a 25-11, 25-14, 25-8 final.

Triton came into the night winners of six of its past eight matches, including a 3-1 win at the Trench against defending 2-A champion North Judson. Perhaps spending all of its energy taking down the Blue Jays, Triton looked sluggish and lefts gaps all over the court as Valley picked apart Triton from the get-go.

A 5-0 start in game one forced a timeout from Gayle Perry, and really nothing the longtime coach offered in the huddle could snap her team out of its funk. Makenzie Woodcox tore apart Triton at the net, moving around her kill attempts and Amy Baca provided some quality swings as Valley ended the first game in about 20 minutes.

Allison Miller digs a Triton attempt.

“We looked like we were terribly exhausted,” started Triton head coach Gayle Perry. “They were tired mentally and physically. I said we are either in terrible shape or…I think what it was was that we beat North Judson. Last year we only won six matches, it was like having two JV’s. We had all these sophomores playing varsity. Now we have them up as juniors and they are starting to play well, but I think last night surprised them. They just didn’t show up tonight.”

Valley, which came in after a conference win against North Miami Tuesday, was almost polar opposite to the Trojans. Rallying after every point and spreading around the chances, the Vikings never let Triton climb back into the match. Woodcox finished with 19 kills to lead the home side, which earned its 10th win of the season.

“I think now we are figuring out who goes after what ball and the decision making is getting better,” said Tippecanoe Valley head coach Mallory Eaton. “We’ve had two sophomores on our back line, it’s just youth. But they are starting to settle in, and also we are getting better at blocking, and that makes defense easier. I thought we showed a lot of good communication tonight defensively.”

Baca added three blocks, and the supporting cast was once again working well for Valley. Hannah Engstrand hung 34 assists, Bree Sheetz had eight digs and Allison Miller had seven aces.

Triton had Lexia Hostrawser lead the team with nine kills, Alyxa Viers dig six attempts, and Emma Hepler and Dylanie Miller combine for 14 assists.

“Even if we came in here and lost, it was about playing hard, and we just didn’t do that,” Perry said. “Valley is a very good team, and we have to learn to play with them. Not let them set the tone early and then never respond. Our hitters never got going, and coming here, you can’t take a night off. Just getting the ball over the net isn’t enough.”

Added Eaton about her team’s direction moving forward, “This group this year, they really get along,” Eaton said. “They really want to win and they are bought in. They are realizing that we can’t take our foot off the gas. That’s what happened at North Miami, where we let up and they snuck a game from us. That’s what I was hoping to avoid today, especially with our start, that we didn’t let up and let Triton get back into it.”

Valley rallied from a 25-17 loss in game one of the JV contest to pull out a 25-18, 15-13 win. Macy Kirchenstien had 12 assists, to which Mallory Durkes and Shaylin Wilcox finished with six kills apiece to lead the Vikings.

Triton (6-5) will prepare for its home Triton Tourney this Saturday while Valley (10-2) has back-to-back matches on Monday and Tuesday against Columbia City and LaVille.

Triton’s Lexia Hostrawser winds up for a kill attempt against Tippecanoe Valley.