NEW PARIS — National Trail’s volleyball team faced off last week with two of the season’s toughest opponents: Fort Recovery and Union County.
The Lady Blazers suffered a loss to Fort Recovery on Monday, Aug. 23 in straight sets 25-10, 25-9, 25-8, as the Indian’s size and quickness proved to be too much for the Blazers.
J’Da Jackson led Trail with three kills and two digs. Addison Sparks added three kills and five digs.
The team never gave up, but in the end, the hard-hitting Indians proved too much for the Blazers, according to Trail coach Jackie Barnes.
“We talked about this before the game, we talked about it after the game, that we just had to play our game of volleyball, and our game that we played today is going to win us a lot of games later on, versus other people,” Barnes said of playing a team of the Indians caliber. “The number one thing that we needed to do is grow as a team from last year to this year. Last year was so crazy, we needed to get that out of the way. And I feel like that’s what we did today on the court. We were hustling after everything, we were diving all over the place, and that is going to be really good tomorrow and Thursday and next week, just, they were too much for us today, and they’re really good volleyball team.”
On Tuesday, Trail traveled to Union County (Ind.) for another non-league match up, and the host Patriots handed Trail a 25-9, 25-5, 25-12 setback.
Sparks led the team with seven digs and three kills. Mykenzie Smith added 10 digs and Haley Davidson contributed five digs and two kills, while Kynzie Everman chipped in with five assists, and Abbi Whitesell had three assists and and ace.
The Lady Blazers finished their three game week on a high note, bringing a win home from Springfield after defeating Emmanuel Christian in four sets 25-17, 26-24, 18-25, 25-17 on Thursday, Aug. 26.
The Blazers were led by stellar performances all the way around.
Sparks had 20 kills, combined with 15 digs and an ace. Jenna Petitt had 24 digs, six kills, and three aces. Jackson added six kills and six aces. Everman led the way setting with 18 assists and a pair of aces. Whitesell chipped in nine assists and two aces.
The Lady Blazers (2-2) were scheduled to begin WOAC play on Tuesday, Aug. 31, at Tri-County North. They are also scheduled to travel to Bradford for another WOAC contest on Thursday, Sept. 2 and will host Stivers on Saturday, Sept. 4.
