Stewardson Trinity Fourth at Tournament

Stewardson Trinity placed fourth at the Christ Lutheran School 24th Annual Volleyball Tournament in Peoria recenlty.

Trinity made it thorugh pool play Friday, defeating Immanuel Lutheran, No. 2 Belvidere 21-7, 21-13 and Bethany Lutheran, Naperville 21-15, 21-10. Saturday, the Cardinals battled and came out on top with Bethel, Morton 21-10, 15-21, 21-8 and Trinity, Centralia 18-21, 21-17, 21-19 which landed Trinity in the top four. The Cardinals faced Zion, Beleville and lost 16-21, 21-12, 21-16. Megan Schlechte had 52 swings with only two errors and 18 kills in the Belleville match. Jocelyn Schultz led the day with six aces and 46 assists while Schlechte had 29 kills and 22 digs.

Stewardson Trinity met Peoria Christ for third place and went three games before Peoria Christ won 25-16, 25-19, 20-25.

"Calla Roney stepped up and really helped Megan out with hitting this match," said Coach Schlechte. "She received 21 of her 56 kills in this match alone. Megan also led with 21 digs and Kelsey Beitz led with four critical aces. Fifth-grader Anna Schlechte amazed me with recovering many of Christ's hard serves and pulled up five tough digs. Christ didn't have any mercy on my younger two and they, Anna along with six-grader Martina Gratz, were able to handle the pressure and pull up some nice saves.

"We may only have two hitters, but the rest of the team has to pull their weight to help with the wins. As the officials took a timeout over a score dispute, we stood in awe of the entire gym, everyone except the fans for Christ stood and chanted, let's go Cardinals. It was awesome to heart that. The smiles on the girls' faces couldn't have been any bigger."

Schlechte and Roney, both seventh-graders, were named on the 12-person All-Tournament Team. The Cardinals are now 7-3 on the season.

At Peoria

Stewardson Trinity -- Betiz, 8 aces, 37 points, 15 digs; M. Schlechte, 12 aces, 58 points, 77 kills, 55 digs, 3 assists; Roney, 13 aces, 61 points, 56 kills, 27 digs; Schultz, 20 aces, 61 points, 3 kills, 12 digs, 129 assists; Gratz, 11 aces, 47 points, 15 digs; A. Schlechte, 2 aces, 44 points, 24 digs, 1 assist; Kessler, 3 digs