It is the carrot that is continuously dangled in front of the volleyball program at Trenton High School. The Lady Bulldogs, despite off-and-on improvement over two decades, have yet to place a district championship flag onto the walls of the THS gymnasium, with that lack of achievement driving second-year head coach Brad Ewald and 26 young ladies forward as the first practice commenced for the 2022 season on Monday morning.
The bad luck in district assignments and classifications from MSHSAA in 2021 led Trenton into a district tournament semifinal at Bishop LeBlond High School in St. Joseph, where the Lady Bulldogs lost in straight sets to a Golden Eagles squad that eventually reached the “Final Four” in Cape Girardeau. Trenton did pick up a first-round district win two nights earlier against South Harrison.
The 2022 season for Trenton opens with a four-game homestand, as the Cameron Lady Dragons visit THS on Monday, August 29th, followed by Brookfield the following night; Chillicothe on Thursday, September 1st; and Plattsburg on Tuesday, September 6th.
On Tuesday morning, KTTN/KGOZ Sports Director Tom Johnson caught up with Coach Ewald to preview the upcoming season:
While district success tops the list of Trenton goals for 2022, the Lady Bulldogs know that flipping a series of setbacks against the likes of Chillicothe, Savannah, LeBlond, Lawson, and Lathrop into wins would give the girls an extra boost of confidence. Getting over that hurdle, Ewald admitted, is a very difficult task:
Trenton’s first road test will be Thursday, September 8th at Carrollton, a stretch that will, if you include the September 17th tournament at Lathrop High School, see Trenton on the road for six consecutive bus rides.
