Lady Trojans end season at 5B District Tournament

There is something special about the environment at a high school postseason event, and two matches last week provided plenty of valuable experience for the Whitehall High School volleyball team.

While the Lady Trojans were eliminated from the Class 5B District Tournament after losses Friday to Manhattan (25-3, 25-18, 25-13) and Townsend, head coach Lauren McDonald discussed the importance of the learning from the post season setting at the Belgrade Events Center.

After coming out of the gates slowly and losing their first set of their opening game to the Lady Tigers 25-3, McDonald gathered her team together. She said with a very young team, the tournament environment was a "holy cow" moment. She told them that know matter where they are playing -- the game does not change.

Whitehall quickly responded to the words of McDonald and played much better to start the second set quickly taking a 6-3 lead. After the Lady Trojans went up 10 to 9, Manhattan would get hot and take a 21-13 advantage. Whitehall responded in emphatic fashion with five straight points including two consecutive kills by junior standout Dorothy Mastel. Manhattan would score the final five points to win the second set.

Going into the second match against the Lady Bulldogs, McDonald not only wanted to use it as a chance for her young team to get more experience, she also told them to not let up.

The Lady Trojans showed true resilience in their final match of the season. They were able to win one set, before eventually falling to Townsend.

Whitehall will lose just one senior, Alexys Mercer. They will return varsity players Mastel, Ashlynn Ellison, Katie Whitehurst, Hannah Bieber, Morgan Benner, Meagan Johnson, Kendra Klapan and Hannah Tebay.