Trinity girls’ volleyball needed more from its well-balanced team heading into Tuesday night’s Heritage League battle for first place with the Faith Baptist Contenders.
The Knights (8-7, 7-0) executed all over the court en route to a straight-set win, taking the top seed and match, 25-17, 25-21, 25-22.
Faith (18-3, 6-1) improved in every set and, despite some large leads in every game, the Contenders were a tough team to put away. Last season, Trinity and Faith Baptist split wins, with both league matches going to five sets.
Senior outside hitter Bethany Sedy led the Knights with a double-double after totaling 20 digs and 11 kills. Sedy put away nearly every ball she hit in the first set, where she put away six kills that partially fueled a Knights’ 7-0 run.
She slowed down in the second set but bounced back in the third game with five big kills.
“This season, (Sedy’s) been playing pretty consistently at that pace, but she was just locked in and confident,” said Knights coach Rebecca Peluffo. “She was encouraging, led well. As a whole, it was a really good game for her.”
The senior has been a steady presence at the outside position alongside fellow senior Emerald Lipis, who added six kills, three aces and seven digs.
Trinity’s height advantage paid dividends in slowing down Contenders outside hitter Lailani Boonyanetr. The outside was forced to hit over the towering block and had a handful of long hitting errors before she found the right angle.
The Knights limited Boonyanetr to just four kills through the first two sets, giving Trinity the boost it needed to power ahead.
“We really just were playing so fluid,” Peluffo said. “We were trusting each other. We were making smart plays instead of forcing things over the net … I just think all the pieces really flowed and worked together. It was a total team win.”
Trinity freshman Natalie Godoy and Scarlett Malkasyan ran a clean offense from the setter position. Godoy, a setter-opposite, also added five kills and three digs to her stat line while Malkasyan tallied 11 assists and seven digs.
While the second set was flooded with errors from both sides, it also showcased numerous long rallies. Both teams dove, hit the floor and scrambled for each loose ball, showing the fight of two teams clawing for a match that will surely have league title implications.
“We’ve been talking a lot this whole season about moving on from mistakes quickly and finding the good from the play that happened and then moving on to the next ball,” Peluffo said. “I think the girls did a phenomenal job of just being mentally tough, moving on from their mistakes and playing solid volleyball.”
Trinity is now perfect through its first half of league play and is in the driver’s seat for its first league championship since 2019. Faith still has a great shot for at least a co-title, which would be its first since 2018.
The Knights began their season 1-6, but quickly flipped the switch and have now gone 7-1 since the slow start.
“We just were trying to find what worked for our team, the dynamic and just different people in the lineups, and just seeing how we could flow,” Peluffo said. “We needed to grow together and work through certain things, and we still are. That’s the best part about this team, they’re so willing to just dig in, put in the work together and grow in the little things that make a huge difference in matches. I think walking through the preseason that we had has only made us stronger and we’re just more hungry to continue to grow and get better.”
Trinity will now carry its momentum back into its biggest rivalry, a date with Santa Clarita Christian on Friday. The Knights swept the Cardinals for just the second time in program history earlier this season and will look to take down SCCS twice in one season for the first time since 2016.
Trinity heads to SCCS on Friday for round two with the Cards at 5 p.m. Faith Baptist returns home on Tuesday to host Vasquez at 4:30 p.m.
“Just continued growth, continuing to pursue all the little things that we work on at practice and implementing them into a game,” Peluffo said about what she wants to see out of the team going forward. “Going out with that confidence and to keep swinging big, to keep playing as a team and moving on from mistakes.”
