Trojans start the week with a pair of wins

One of the goals set by Triton College head volleyball Thomas Malesky at the start of the season was for his team to get 20 wins. It is a mark the program has not achieved since 1992.

Malesky and the Trojans are more than half way there after a pair of wins Monday at home against Elgin Community College and Tuesday on the road at Olive-Harvey College. Triton is now 11-4 overall.

Despite losing a number of games due to cancelations, Malesky still has the goal in site.

"I think it would be big for the program as we got close last year," said Malesky in his fourth season at Triton. "Our objective is to get to that 20 win total and if we can, will put ourselves in a good position heading into the regional tournament."

The Trojans knocked off Elgin for the second time in their 25-19, 25-15, 25-22 victory on "Family Night" at the Collins Center.

Sophomore Melissa Schmidt (Ridgewood) anchored the Triton offensive attack with 32 assists.

Miriam Guler (Ridgewood), who leads the region in digs per set average, had a team-high 17 digs.

Adriana Lopez (Maine West) had 14 digs. Magdalena Sroka (Argo) added 11 digs along with a team-high 12 kills.

"We didn't start out strong but were able to turn things around midway through the first set," Malesky said. "Then we played very good in the second set and the third set was back and forth and we were able to execute when we needed to prevail."

Then the Trojans traveled the next evening to Olive-Harvey and won in three sets 25-18, 25-23, 25-19 against an improved Panthers squad.

Triton was down 11-8 in the first set before reeling off the next nine points to take control of the opening set. The second set, the Trojans had to rally to win before reasserting command in the third set to close out the victory.

Schmidt had 28 assists against Olive-Harvey. Guler finished with 29 digs. Tanya DeLaRiva (Morton) had a team-high 12 kills.

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