103.9 KNZA & 92.1 KMZA Broadcast - Troy Triangular w/Axtell & Wetmore - click here to listen

Only a few weeks left of the regular season in high school volleyball Twin Valley League teams continued the season with contests against each other on Tuesday night and Troy played host to Axtell and Wetmore. 

Axtell finished the night 2-0 with a pair of straight set wins 25-21, 25-22 over Troy and 25-15, 25-17 over Wetmore. The Cardinals closed the night with the win over Troy in three sets 25-18, 15-25, 26-24. 

The night started with the host Troy battling Axtell on the court and the Eagles opened with a 3-0 run to start the first set but Troy responded with a 4-0 run to lead 4-3. Axtell flipped it back to their side mounting a 4-0 run to lead 7-4 and then went up 13-9 when Troy called a timeout. Lead continued to grow from that point with Axtell leading by as many as seven at 20-13 but as the Eagles looked to close out the set Troy closed the gap but fell a bit short as the Eagles took set one 25-21. Set two was tight early and tied 6-6 but the Eagles took control working to a 20-14 lead but just like set one Troy mounted a late comeback again and closed to within two at 24-22 but after an Axtell timeout the Eagles finished the set taking it 25-22. Trisha Mathewson helped led the Eagles, while Montana Heinen, Kori Schmelzle and Emi Deters all had kills. In the loss Troy had strong performances by Amanda Stock, Brylee Wiedmer and Morgan Masters. 

It was a battle of the birds in the second matchup of the night as Axtell took on Wetmore and the Eagles got out to a solid first set start leading 5-1 and the lead continued to grow throughout the set going up 15-9 and then taking the set 25-15. Set two started with a 4-0 Axtell with a Makenna Koch ace highlighting the run but Wetmore scored five of the next six points and tied the set at 5-5. Axtell had a big run in of their own after the set was knotted up at 5-5 as the Eagles went on a 6-1 run to lead 11-6 leading to a Cardinal timeout. Axtell held Wetmore off extending the lead until a late 5-0 run by Wetmore drew Wetmore closer but the deficit was too much to overcome as Axtell took set two 25-17 to win the match. Mathewson again was strong for Axtell especially down the middle with her blocking and spikes, Chelsea Smith played well at the libero spot and Kinsey Feldkamp set up her teammates. Wetmore in the loss had Reagan Osterhaus play well at the net, while both Jossie Shumaker and Jill Henry helped lead the way. 

The third and final matchup of the night was a tough three set contest between Troy and Wetmore. Set one was tied early at 3-3 but Wetmore established a 9-4 lead getting a pair of ace's from Alena Pfrang to own that lead. The Cardinals did not look back from that point taking advantage of some Troy service errors to go up by double figures in the set and despite a 5-1 run late by Troy the Cardinals took set one 25-18. Set two started off strong for the Trojans as they were up 4-1 with Kassidy Ashworth notching a couple of aces. The Trojans continued to hold the lead in set two despite Wetmore getting with a few points midway through the set. Troy established their largest lead of the night at 23-13 and won set two 25-15. Troy started set three with a Masters ace and went up 7-1 but a 5-1 drew Wetmore within 8-6 and then the Cardinals tied the set at 9-9 and took their first lead in set three at 10-9. The lead traded hands multiple times down the stretch but a 5-0 run had Wetmore up 18-16 and then Troy tied it at 23-23 on a Stock ace. The Trojans had set/match point at 24-23 and Wetmore called a timeout and out of the timeout the Cardinals scored the next two points to win the set 26-24 and take the match. Wetmore got strong serves by Pfrang, solid play by Henry at libero led the back row for the Cardinals, while Shumaker was active upfront along with Osterhaus. Ashworth led the Trojans in the three set contest with Stock, Haley Horner and others stepping up. 

The 2-0 evening for Axtell moved them to 13-16 on the season, while Wetmore going 1-1 is 4-24 on the year and Troy is now 3-17 on the season.