BELPRE — Two volleyball teams going in opposite directions of each other did battle on Monday night, as Belpre couldn’t catch up to visiting Trimble. The Golden Eagles claimed the second set, but that was all, as the Tomcats took the match 25-16, 17-25, 25-12, 25-15.

Leading the way for Belpre in the loss was Halee Williams. She was a force at the net as she collected 12 blocks throughout the contest. Despite the loss, head coach Brooke Cieslewski was happy with that portion of the attack by Williams, Alyssa Hutchinson and Makaylee Deaton upfront.

“Usually when that happens, it’s pretty infectious,” she said. “So, their attitudes that are positive are infectious. The same thing happens when they can’t really pull themselves out of a rut. It spreads throughout the team.”

The Tomcats got Belpre into one of those ruts in the early going when they stormed out in the lead in set number one.

Down 6-4, Trimble went on a 10-2 run to firmly take control.

The closest BHS got was 14-12, but the Tomcats went on one last scoring spree to close out the set. In a tale of two sets, the Golden Eagles went on the attack and evened up with Trimble after two.

They jumped out to a 5-0 lead behind the strength of Williams scoring four of the first five Golden Eagle points, as Trimble played from behind throughout that second set.

When the Tomcats battled back to tie it up at 14, BHS took advantage of miscues to get the second-set win. A Hannah McDaniel ace and kill paired with a Williams block gave Trimble no room for error, but the rest of Belpre’s points mostly came via shots falling out of play for the ‘Cats. During a timeout with Belpre up 22-17, coach Cieslewski told her team to finish the job, and that there was “nothing they can do as long as we keep scoring.”

Defensive pressure from the Belpre front line, forced Trimble’s Riley Campbell to hit two shots far out of play to even up the affair.

After that, Trimble finally took care of business on the road by winning the next two sets. With a 6-5 lead, they reeled off seven straight points to create the space needed to leave Belpre behind in the third set. A closer fourth set saw some longer volleys and back-and-forth scoring until the midway point. With the ultimately-deciding set coming down to the wire, an ace from Williams and kill from Allie Lemon cut Trimble’s lead to 16-15.

Then, three consecutive Laikyn Imler aces led to the floodgates opening for Trimble (10-6).

That 9-0 run ended the night on a down, as Belpre (5-12) looks for a way to peak at the right time. A 6 p.m. road contest at Wahama awaits them this evening.

“It just came down to consistency and playing smarter than the other team. That’s how they beat us,” coach Cieslewski said. “The message to the girls is to peak at the right time. That if you want it, you’ve got to come out here and prove it on the court.

Contact Josh Hughes at jhughes@newsandsentinel.com