Madison Ricke hits past Triton’s Abbey Viers and Madeline Doll in a Culver Community Regional semifinal Saturday. (Photos by James Costello)

CULVER — Last year, Morgan Township jumped ahead two games in the morning semifinals at the Culver Community Regional, only to surrender the next three sets to Bethany Christian.

It was a memory that stuck with the No. 5-ranked Cherokees, and, besides, they knew Triton was the kind of scrappy team that was capable of replicating that feat, so they weren’t taking any chances this time around.

Morgan rallied back from a 10-4 start by the Blue Slam in the third set Saturday, winning 14 of the last 18 points to finish off its opponents, 25-11, 25-19, 25-16 and advance to the evening’s championship match opposite the winner of the late semifinal between Pioneer and Lakewood Park Christian.

“I will tell you last year, we experienced that — we won the first two, lost the next three,” recalled Morgan coach Amy Bolen. “I told them we were not doing that. We could not let up ever, no matter what the score was. If we were up by 10, we were still pounding away like it’s the first ball. There was no crack that we could let them get momentum.”

Triton had no answer for 6-foot junior outside hitter Emily Rastovski, already a verbal commit to Purdue University, in Saturday’s early semifinal. Rastovski was all downhill in sending a match-high 17 kills to the floor, and senior setter/ OH Sahara Bee backed her up with 11 kills to go with a match-high 19 assists in the win.

“(Rastovski) was just a lot for us,” said Triton coach Gayle Perry. “We tried to dig her. We blocked her a couple times finally. She’s a good player. I thought overall the rest of the team, we kind of matched with. We tried to move some people around, tried to get a better block on her and make her think a little bit as to where she was going to hit, what she was going to do.

“This is the first time we’ve seen this — where a hitter can just dominate us to some extent.”

“She’s amazing to watch, and she loves volleyball,” said Bolen of her star hitter. “And we’ve got a really good team of hitters. Even you would say our off hitters, they all are very strong, and so is our bench. It’s the first year that you feel super confident that no matter where the ball is going, somebody is going to put it away.”

Lexia Hostrawser watches as her attack clears Hannah Cunningham and Karlie Lemmons.

It took the Blue Slam a little time to get rolling as they never led in the opening set en route to their most lopsided loss of the day at 25-11. The Trojans woke up in the second set, however, going back and forth with the Cherokees in a game that saw four lead changes and seven ties — the last at 18-18. But a pair of kills and two stuffs by Bee helped cue a 7-1 set-ending run, and Morgan Township took a — somewhat — comfortable two-game lead into the third set. Still not done, Triton jumped out to first an 8-4 lead, forcing a Township timeout, then ran off two more points as part of a 6-0 service run by Molly McFarland. But the Cherokees knotted it up with a 7-1 spurt of their own to take back the match momentum, then gradually pulled ahead, Rastovski’s hard spike into the back row putting the exclamation point on the 25-16 win.

While Rastovski put away 17 kills, the Trojans struggled against Morgan’s front line, which tallied 11 blocks at the net. Abbey Viers finished with seven kills, most of those coming in the third set, and Dylanie Miller and Emma Hepler recorded just nine and six assists, respectively, for Triton.

“I thought we dug some balls. We got a ball up, made the set, and then the hitter, I thought, made a poor decision for us as to what to do with it, or wasn’t ready. We battled that focus,” explained Perry.

“I thought they did a good job of shutting Lexia Hostrawser down for most of the match. Abbey not so much. I thought we just didn’t set Abbey, and I kind of got on my setter about that and that third game we got a bunch of kills out of her.”

McFarland notched seven digs for Triton’s defense, as did Alyxa Viers in her final match with the Blue Slam.

Alyxa Viers gets ready to serve

“I thought Alyxa Viers did what she needed to do. She tried to dig. She got a dig or two. That was a tough task facing (Rastovski),” Perry said.

“I thought Alyxa did a great job of sharing the leadership — not trying to just be the only leader, but sharing it and playing to her skills. She’s not going to lead us in kills, but she figured out how to be middle back for us. She’s solid. She’s a good passer on serve receive and a great server. I thought she played to those talents and then we just built everything else around it.”

Although Alyxa will depart the team, the rest of Triton’s 16-17 squad is expected back to build on this season’s sectional championship finish. A 20-7 JV squad and some talented eighth graders have Perry hopeful for the future.

“The good news is they’re probably all back. They’ll have to make that decision as to what they want to do,” said the Triton boss. “Everybody likes to play more. And there wasn’t dissension or anything. They were really close as a team. It’s just a lot of work. I’m tough to play for. This week was not pleasant at practice, and they’ll tell you that. We worked hard, and they weren’t always happy. We ran a lot. But they always wanted to get better. They never quit on me, and I figure if you can handle me, you can handle anybody.”