Trojanettes fall in state semis
The Windthorst Trojanettes’ bid for a repeat came to an end in the state-semifinals with a hard-fought loss to Crawford, 27-29, 24-26, 16-25, on Wednesday, Nov. 15, at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland.
The Lady Pirates (43-7) used a balanced attack from four players using a mixture of spikes and dinks to build sizable leads before the Trojanettes (44-6) stormed back each set.
“We played hard, it just wasn’t our night,” Windthorst Head Coach Allison Bussey said. “I feel like they did a good job of keeping us off balance this afternoon. Just by sending over lulls and tips and then swung at us as well.”
An attack error from Crawford opened Windthorst up with a point to start the game before the Lady Pirates fired off five straight points to force an early Trojanette timeout.
Following the timeout, Rylee Wolf and Annikah Frank combined for four kills as the Trojanettes took a 10-9 lead before a setting error to even the score back at 10. A kill by Wolf, a kill by Saige Anderson and an ace from Frank forced a Crawford timeout at 15-13 Windthorst. Wolf rattled off four kills and an ace to grow the Trojanette lead to 22-16 and force another Crawford timeout.
An attack error by Frank and then a pair of kills from Crawford’s Beryn Hyland brought the Lady Pirates within three before Megg Lindley knocked in a tip to bring the score to 23-19. A pair of Crawford points forced a Windthorst timeout at 23-21. Following the timeout, a service error put Windthorst just a point away from taking the set, but the Trojanettes could not find the set point.
A pair of attacking errors by Frank were followed by a pair of Lady Pirates kills to give Crawford a 25-24 lead. Frank then knocked down a kill followed by a Lady Pirates attacking errors to give Windthorst a 26-25 lead. Wolf attempted a kill to take the set that landed just out of bounds and tied the score at 26. Wolf followed the error with her 10th kill of the set. Another Trojanette attempt to take the set landed out of bounds to tie the score at 27. A Wolf error and a kill from Crawford’s Blair Kieth ended the first set with a win for the Lady Pirates.
Frank and Wolf knocked down a pair of kills to help the Trojanettes build a 3-0 start to the second set before Crawford rattled off four straight points. A pair of kills from Frank built an 11-6 lead for the Trojanettes before the Lady Pirates railed a 10-1 to take a 16-12 lead in the set. Kills by Isabel Bussey and Frank helped bring Windthorst back within one at 18-17 before Crawford pushed the lead back out to three.
A kill by Wolf, two from Frank and an error on the Lady Pirates gave Windthorst a 22-21 lead and forced a Crawford timeout. Out of the timeout the teams traded points a couple times to give Windthorst a 24-23 lead and a chance to take the second set. Frank rose for an attack off the pass from Lindley and spiked the ball just out of bounds as the score tied at 24. A kill by Bre Featherston and an ace from Kieth ended the second set.
The teams traded points early before a 5-1 Crawford run forced a Windthorst timeout at 8-4. A pair of Anderson kills around a Frank ace brought the score to 13-11. Anderson's next kill attempt went out of bounds before Wolf knocked down a kill. The Lady Pirates attack came alive in the middle of the third set as Featherston and Ella Connell knocked down kills to force a Windthorst timeout at 17-12. Anderson knocked down her third kill of the set before a 7-1 run put Windthorst on the brink of elimination at 24-14. A pair of errors were the Trojanette’s last points before a Hyland kill sealed the Lady Pirates win.
“Give it up to Crawford, they played all over the place and played really good defense,” Bussey said. “They were able to execute when we sent them our free balls. Crawford was the better team today. I didn’t feel like we played our best and Crawford came out really well and ready to play.”
Crawford was led by Hyland who had 12 kills and two digs. Featherston had 10 kills and 14 digs. Connell had nine kills and five digs. Hattie Hayes knocked down seven kills. Kieth finished with three kills and 32 assists while Laney Elmore led the defense with 21 digs.
For the Trojanettes, Wolf finished with 16 kills, 16 digs and three aces; Frank finished with 10 kills, 15 digs and three aces; Anderson finished with five kills and two blocks; Lindley finished with two kills, 12 digs and 29 assists; Bussey finished with two kills and 14 digs; Karissa Fillingim had eight digs and two assists; Violet West had five digs and Abby Schroeder had two kills.
In total, the Trojanettes finished with 72 digs in the game.
“I think at times we looked really good defensively,” Bussey said. “But I feel like in every single set we had a few runs where our defense just wasn’t the best. We just didn’t play very consistent.”
Seniors playing their last game in the blue and white were Wolf, Anderson, A. Frank, Kyah Frank, Schroeder and Bri Hoff.
“Our seniors are amazing players, not only amazing players but amazing people as well,” Bussey said.
The seniors end their careers having taken Windthorst to the program’s 23rd and 24th state tournament appearances. They have made the Trojanettes the leaders in state titles with 14 and added the program’s fourth bronze medal.
“It means a lot (to have two medals,)” Wolf said. “It’s hard to get to the state tournament, especially back-to-back. We worked so hard to be here.”
“Anytime we make it to the state tournament, obviously we want to win,” Bussey said. “We want to come and perform our best and show everyone who Windthorst is, and I am proud of the girls for putting Windthorst back on the map.”
