AS CLOSE AS IT GETS

Trenton Comes Up Two Points Shy Of Upset

As Trenton’s high school volleyball players bunched together near at the left side of the net on Thursday night, senior Karli Provorse leaned into the front line players to deliver a simple, three-word message.
“Don’t give up.”
On this night, Trenton did not give up, battling tooth and nail with the Chillicothe Hornets before eventually succumbing to a 25-17, 17-25, 24-26 defeat.
The loss – coming by the slimmest margin possible in volleyball (two points in the third game) – undoubtedly stung, especially after Trenton won the opening game. But, after two less-than-desired performances to start the season, the loss was a welcome turnaround for a program in search of some momentum.
“Coming up short a couple points in that third set – no one wants to lose that close,” Trenton Head Coach Amanda King said. “The girls were a little disappointed, but they saw the skills and what it takes to work hard. That was a game that needed to happen and the girls are ready to play (Chillicothe) again.”
There was a different energy about the Bulldogs from the beginning. The Bulldogs weathers some early Hornet points before winning a long rally that cut the game-one deficit to 8-6. Trenton took off following the point, taking its first lead at 10-9. The Bulldogs would not give the lead back the rest of the opening game, going on to take the opener 25-17.
But, when game two started, Trenton was buried by a 6-1 run by Chillicothe. Trenton trailed by as much as seven points before rallying back. The Bulldogs cut the lead to 16-13 at one point, but Chillicothe won nine of the final 13 points to put the Bulldogs away and even the match with a 25-17 win of their own.
The final game started off evenly with the two teams going back and forth to a 6-6 score in the early going. Chillicothe would go on a run from that point, taking advantage of a couple of Trenton service errors along the way. The Bulldogs found themselves with their backs against the wall, trailing 17-9 in the decisive game.
That’s when Provorse delivered her message to her teammates, however. Trenton would win eight of the next nine points to cut the Hornet lead to a single point at 18-17. Trenton trailed by one three times before finally evening the score at 23-23 and then taking their first lead since 7-6 at 25-23.
That set up a match point for Trenton with Allena Allen serving. Chillicothe would win a long rally, however, and parlayed the momentum created by the point into two more points in a row to end Trenton’s upset bid and take the final game 26-24.
“That was a gamechanger for us, especially coming off of two pretty bad losses earlier in the week,” King said of the match. “To come out and top Chillicothe, even if it was just one set, and then to close the gap in the third set and lose by two – it was a bittersweet loss, but I thought the girls played very, very well.”
With the loss, Trenton fell to 0-3 overall on the season. Trenton will be home for the fourth time in a row on Tuesday, taking on Plattsburg. Action will begin with lower varsity tilts at 5 p.m. and the varsity will follow.