The Lady Pioneer Volleyball team hosted its first Tri Night in recent history Tuesday in the SHS Field House. The Lady Pioneers, Southmoore and Edmond Memorial competed in three regular season games all in one evening. Stillwater swept Southmoore but fell in three sets to Edmond Memorial.
Head Coach Andrue Brown was disappointed with the loss against Edmond Memorial but said overall the night went well.
“We got a huge sweep against a team we lost to earlier this year, especially a big time win against Southmoore right before playoffs,” Brown said.
Two of the Lady Pioneer seniors got to play in their first-ever Tri Night. They enjoyed the night overall, but they did not like how it was a normal game night that had a tournament feeling to it. Ella Weiberg and Kennedy Johnson expressed how they felt the 4:00 o’clock game was a struggle coming right from class at 2:30 and automatically having to get into game mode.
“I did not like the 4:00 o’clock game,” Weiberg said. “First off, we lost, and it was weird having to go straight from class to get ready. We normally do not have to do that,” Weiberg said.
Johnson agreed that the game day routine was thrown off with the early game time.
“Yeah, we usually have games in between so that game was a little bit rough, but other than that the 7:00 o’clock game went really well, and I liked it.” Kennedy Johnson said of Tri Night.
After a tough first-game loss to Edmond Memorial in three sets, the Lady Pioneers turned the night around with a shocking performance against Southmoore. Stillwater went 25-16, 25-18 and 26-24 to close out the sweep. The Lady Pioneers had previously lost against this same team earlier this season. Coach Brown said all six girls were in sync during the game and were able to play smoothly and consistently at the same time.
“We have not had a game yet this season where all six girls on the court have been ‘on’ at the exact same time, and I think what happened against Southmoore was not surprising but exciting that we had everyone playing smooth and consistent at the same time,” Brown said.
Tri Night overall was different yet enjoyable for the Lady Pioneers and Coach Brown. Although they may have struggled in the first game, they were able to turn it around and win a huge game. This win gives the Lady Pioneers confidence going into their Thursday night Pink out game at SHS Fieldhouse. Their win against Southmoore is a huge deal for Stillwater, especially going into the playoffs.
“I want to give a shout out to the girls, they played really well,” Brown said. “I think it will probably be overlooked on how big of a win that is against Southmoore.”