Trinity stages big second-set rally, closes out Buccaneers in 3

• Kennedy Keator

Press Photo by Dustin Monke Dickinson Trinity freshman Kennedy Keator, right, sends a kill past Beach junior Bailey Waldal on Tuesday evening during a Region 7 volleyball match at Knights of Columbus Activities Center.

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Dickinson Trinity may have set its ship on course for the season in the middle of the second set Tuesday night against Beach.

Trailing the Buccaneers by nine points, Trinity leaned on senior Gretchen Weir and junior Katelyn Grinsteinner to rally and give the Titans a two-set lead. They used that momentum to close out a 25-22, 25-23, 25-18 Region 7 volleyball victory at Knights of Columbus Activities Center.

“It was incredible,” said Trinity senior Alyson Schieno, who had a match-high 11 kills. “At first, we started really down, but I think after we got it through our heads that we can do this, we just came out and kicked butt.”

Schieno closed out the victory in the third set by scoring four of the Titans’ final points on aces. She also staked the Titans to a tight victory with seven kills in the first set.

“I would say she probably had her best game so far,” Trinity head coach Rayma Braaten said.

Schieno’s leadership got the Titans through a back-and-forth first set in which neither team led by more than a point until Beach pulled ahead 13-11 on a Trinity return error.

The Buccaneers, who lost their first match of the season, had the biggest lead in the opener at 15-12 before Trinity staged a five-point run to take the lead.

A Weir block and a back-row kill from junior Allison Steffan gave Trinity the win.

Beach (6-1) appeared to be on track to make it a long match when it pulled ahead early in the second set.

It built a 19-10 lead behind hitting errors from the Titans and good play up front.

Then, the tables slowly began to turn.

Trailing 23-19, Trinity closed the match on a six-point run. Grinsteinner had two kills and two blocks — including the set-winner on a fisted attack that went just low enough to fool the Buccaneers — while Weir had two kills.

Weir finished with six kills while Grinsteinner had four.

“It is huge, after you’re just down for so much and working your way up, that helps it to keep going,” Braaten said.

Beach head coach Allison Skari was not pleased with her team’s performance.

“When we’re (ahead) 19-10 and we can’t get the job done, that’s got to say something,” Skari said. “We have no leadership right now on the floor. They don’t talk to each other. They don’t act like they even want to play sometimes. What do you say?”

Channa Clarin, a 6-foot-1 sophomore, had five kills, three aces and a pair of blocks to the Buccaneers.

Beach led early in the third set before a kill and an ace by sophomore setter Katie Dockter started turning the tide in Trinity’s favor.

Then Schieno got hot at the net and Beach couldn’t respond.

Trinity improved to 4-4 after a 2-4 start to the season at Coal Country Tournament in Hazen, where teams played only two-set matches.

Freshman Kennedy Keator had five aces to go along with a pair of kills and Dockter had 14 assists.

“I think everyone, in a way, is doubting us because we have such a young team,” Schieno said. “This start is showing them that we are a good team, even if we are young.”

Beach 23 23 18 — 0

Trinity 25 25 25 — 3

Kills: B, Channa Clarin 5, Hailee Farstveet 3, Cydni Stedman 2, Bailey Waldal 1. T, Alyson Schieno 11, Gretchen Weir 6, Allison Steffan 5, Katelyn Grinsteinner 4, Kennedy Keator 2, Katelyn Dockter 1.

Blocks: B, Farstveet 3, Clarin 2. T, Grinsteinner 2, Weir 1, Steffan 1.

Aces: B, Clarin 3, Stedman 1. T, Keator 5, Dockter 4, Schieno 4.

Digs: B, Kari Schmeling 6, Waldal 5, Farstveet 4, Clarin 4. T, Not available.

Assists: B, Chantel Fulton 8. T, Docter 14, Keator 2.

Records: Beach 6-1. Trinity 4-4.

Tags: trinity titans, beach buccaneers, sports, preps, volleyball