Triton’s Addyson Viers takes a swing against LaCrosse Thursday evening in the opening round of the Triton Volleyball Sectional. InkFreeNews photo by Nick Goralczyk

By Nick Goralczyk
InkFreeNews

BOURBON – One down, two to go.

The Triton volleyball team took its first step towards a sectional title Thursday night. The Blue Slam was anything but a polite host, ousting the visiting Tigers with a 3-0 sweep to advance to Saturday’s semifinal at the IHSAA Class 1-A No. 50 Triton Sectional.

Triton blew the doors open from the opening serve and never took its foot off the gas against an overmatched LaCrosse squad. The first game served as a microcosm for the match, Triton avoided mistakes and just let its talent carry it across the finish line. With LaCrosse struggling to just keep things close, Triton was able to stay focused and won the opener 25-11.

LaCrosse earned the first point of game two, but confidence vanished quickly from the Tigers sideline as Emma Hepler stepped in and served the next six points to get the Trojans a nice cushion for the remainder of the second game. What plagued the Tigers in game one was still an issue in game two, they were unable to serve more than two consecutive points. This allowed Triton to, once again, stay focused on itself and cruise to a 25-12 victory.

By game three there were no doubts how things would end, it was just a matter of what the score would be. Triton continued to exert its strength and finally closed out LaCrosse with a 25-6 win to complete the sweep.

The Trojans were outstanding from start to finish, but they should have been. The win moved Triton to 22-10 on the season while LaCrosse closes the book on 2020 with a mark of 2-20. In fact, Triton is the only team in its sectional with a winning record. That makes the blueprint for Blue Slam a little different than most teams. It not so much about how to win but about how to avoid losing.

“What we talked about after the game was the same as we talked about before, just play our game,” stated Triton head coach Derek Eveland. “We go back to fundamentals before sectional, get the reboot, it’s about us. We’ve played most of these teams before. LaCrosse is a team we actually haven’t seen before but we’ve played Culver twice, Argos twice. If we get to regional then that will force us to scout teams.

“It is hard to beat a team over and over, but if we don’t then it is a disappoint for us. I don’t want to diminish or belittle anybody but there are things we can work on in some of these games to be more fundamentally sound.”

Triton was led statistically by Lexia Hostrawser and Abbey Viers. Hostrawser recorded eight kills and two aces while Viers led the team with 11 kills and also had a pair of aces. Molly McFarland had seven digs to lead Triton while Emma Hepler tallied 24 assists.

Up next for Triton will be Argos at 10:30 a.m. Saturday morning. Though Triton has already enjoyed a sweep of the Dragons this season, there is still some fire burning for Saturday’s matchup.

“We’ve got a little motivation,” Eveland explained. “(Argos) was talking a little smack earlier. That’s okay. I don’t know what was said but they were talking. A lot of our girls know the Argos girls. They’re close enough that it’s kind of a rivalry. Over the past few years (Argos) has not been as strong as in other years but any team is capable of winning sectional.”

The second semifinal will pit Culver against West Central at 12:30 p.m. Culver advanced over Oregon-Davis after the Bobcats withdrew from the sectional due to COVID-19 complications. The sectional originally was scheduled to take place at Oregon-Davis, but Triton absorbed the tournament when Oregon-Davis dropped out.