Following their first Heritage League loss of the year to Faith Baptist, Trinity girls’ volleyball rebounded at home with a win over the Palmdale Academy Charter Jaguars.
The Knights swept the Jaguars in straight sets, 25-14, 25-11, 25-10, for their eighth league win of the year.
“I think the girls did a great job of executing from the service line and from the offensive standpoint,” Trinity head coach Rebecca Peluffo said. “We wanted to continue to compete well and work on the things that we’ve been talking about at practice and trying to implement that into a game to build that confidence back.”
The Knights (10-4, 8-1) opened the game with a 7-2 lead over the Jaguars (1-17, 0-12) after Katrina Larsen landed a kill. But the Jaguars came back to cut the deficit to two following an offensive mistake from Trinity.
With a 14-12 lead over Palmdale Academy, the Knights went on a seven-point run that started with a kill from Lianna Alderson.
The Knights held the Jaguars to just one point the rest of the set and won 25-14.
In the second set, Trinity opened with another commanding 10-2 lead over the Jaguars. And although Palmdale Academy fought to stay within range of the Knights, Trinity never gave up the lead all set.
The Knights took a 21-9 lead over the Jaguars following an explosive kill off Larsen and clinched the set after capitalizing off mistakes from Palmdale Academy.
Larsen finished the game with a team-leading 15 kills across all three sets.
Throughout the game, Peluffo was impressed with her team’s bounceback performance on offense and the ability for the team to take opportunities when they saw them.
“They were just playing really smart,” Peluffo said. “We made smart choices, we were swinging big when we needed to swing big and also placing the ball when we saw those opportunities as well to get the kill.”
The third set followed the same sequence as the previous two. The Knights held a 10-3 lead following four straight aces from Chloe Horning and closed out the set on a 15-8 scoring run after a kill from Natalia Godoy.
Horning tallied 11 digs and seven aces in the sweep over Palmdale Academy.
The Knights are tied for first place in the Heritage League with Desert Christian as both teams have eight wins through the first 10 games.
Despite how close it is to the top of the standings, Peluffo is focused on the next game and how the team can get better every day as the team seeks its second straight Heritage League title.
“Every game is important and every time we step on the court,” Peluffo said. “It’s important for us to compete well and continue to grow as we take it one game at a time. We step on the court, we battle together, we work hard together. And more importantly, just compete well for each other.”
Moving forward, Peluffo is going to double down on what works for her team and just build upon their success as the team enters the final stretch of the season.
“We’re just going to keep working on the little things,” Peluffo said. “With what we’re practicing at practice, trying to implement that right next into the game that we get to play next in the opportunities we have.”
The Knights play again at home on Friday, hosting the Viewpoint Patriots with the game set to begin at 5:30 p.m.
