Trojan volleyball heads into postseason on high note

NEWS CHRONICLE FILE PHOTO — The STC volleyball team celebrates a point in an earlier match this season. The Trojans swept Benton, 3-0, on Oct. 7.
VAN HORNE — The STC volleyball team traveled to Benton on Tuesday, October 7, for their final match of the regular season against the Bobcats. Sweeping the match 3-0, the Trojans enter the postseason playing strong.
Game one was a solid performance by STC. The Trojans jumped out to a 10-3 lead thanks in part to a kill and two aces by sophomore Stella Zmolek. Benton looked to climb back in the early portions of the game, cutting the STC lead to 12-7. But back-to-back kills by junior Mady Boriskey pushed the STC lead to 20-10, and the Trojans went on to a 25-19 victory.
In game two, Benton came out with a fast start and went up 7-2 on the Trojans. But in the middle of the game, the Trojans went on a tear behind the serving of sophomore Sydney Arp. Arp served two aces and, along with points scored by senior Rylee Ridout, STC climbed all the way back and took a 12-10 lead. From there, the Trojans never relinquished the lead and, backed by multiple kills by junior Paisley Bro, STC took the 25-16 win.
In the final game of the night, the Bobcats once again jumped out to an early lead. This time, they went up 4-1 before two kills by Zmolek cut the Benton lead to 5-3. Soon after, STC sophomore Keinzle Boriskey started to exert a dominating presence at the net. Boriskey was a part of six points for the Trojans in a stretch where they caught the Bobcats and took a 15-7 lead. From there, STC closed out the game on a 10-9 run and won the third game, 25-16.
On the night, Zmolek and Keinzle Boriskey led the team in kills with 9 apiece. Bro added 8 kills and Ridout, 7. Sophomore Maylee Rucker recorded 35 assists on the night. Aces for the team were scored by: Zmolek (3), Arp (2), Bro (1), Rucker (1), and sophomore Shelby Johannsen (1).
STC (18-16) will now open the playoffs by traveling to Pella Christian to battle the Eagles in the Class 3A, region 3 quarterfinals. The match will take place at Pella Christian High School on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m.