After a rough 0-2 start to the year, Trojan Volleyball is now on the board. In a triangular event on their home court, they defeated Madrid 3-1 (18-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-17). This was followed by being swept by No. 11 in 1A Grand View Christian 2-0 (25-15, 25-17). GVC also defeated Madrid 2-0 in their matchup.

Not only did head coach Joel Allman’s girls get their first victory of 2020, they also won their first set. They dropped seven straight to start the year before coming back to defeat Madrid.

The first set was hard for the Trojans as they couldn’t get any sort of rally going. The second set saw them pick up the pace and take it for their first set win of the season. In the 3rd set, they were down 13-9 at one point, only to rattle off 7 straight points for a nail-biting three point win. That momentum carried over to the final set as they scored the first nine points, led by Senior libero Breanna Benge, who was the server during this rally.

Allman also gave praise to Sydney Septer in the serving game, as well as Alex Blackford and Danika Park for their setting and scoring performances.

Although it ended on a sour note with the loss to the ranked GVC Thunder, Allman is happy for his girls to get the monkey off their backs with that first elusive win.

“To start the night against Madrid, I was a little bit worried with how we played in that first set. I was really happy with how we responded. Obviously we got our first set win in that second set against Madrid. I think that really gave us that confidence. We were starting to pass the ball a little bit better. We were starting to attack the ball a little bit better.”

Pleasantville will have plenty of rest before their next outing at Clarke on September 10 in another triangular event, where Mount Ayr will serve as the third party.