ARCANUM – The Arcanum Lady Trojans wrapped up regular season play with a hard-fought 3-1 non-conference loss to the visiting Brookville Lady Blue Devils.
“This was like a bonus game for us, getting us ready for the tournament,” said Arcanum coach Jacie Holman. “I felt like we played really well the first two sets and we accomplished our goal of taking a set away from them, and then we kind of just mentally fell.”
The Lady Trojans jumped out to an early 2-0 lead before Brookville answered with a 5-0 run to go ahead 5-2. Arcanum responded with a 12-8 surge to take a 14-13 lead, but the Lady Blue Devils closed strong on a 12-4 run to take the opening set, 25-18.
Arcanum came out sharp in the second set, racing to a 5-0 advantage. Brookville battled back to even things at 19-19, but the Lady Trojans finished strong, outscoring the visitors 6-2 to claim the set 25-21 and even the match at one set apiece.
Brookville dominated early in the third, building an 11-3 lead that Arcanum couldn’t overcome. The Blue Devils cruised to a 25-12 win to regain control of the match.
The Lady Trojans stayed close midway through the fourth, trailing just 15-12, but Brookville closed the door with a 10-3 finishing run to seal the 3-1 match victory.
“If you take those first two sets, I am extremely proud of us, and then we just kind of mentally fell,” said Holman.
“My seniors always do a fine job of stepping up — even on the mental side,” she added. “They want these games; they know there’s no guarantee for tomorrow. Caroline Long always has a big game, and she’s smart with the ball. My outside hitters do a spectacular job as well.”
Holman praised Avery Leeper for her defensive effort against Brookville standout Sidney Sprada, a University of Dayton volleyball signee.
“Huge shoutout to Avery — she was able to stop Sprada sometimes, and Brookville had to make the adjustment so Sprada wasn’t going against her. That’s huge. She was ready to block her that fourth set,” Holman said.
Setter Grace Fry also drew high praise.
“Grace is always my spunk on the team,” Holman said. “Unfortunately, we just didn’t give her a lot of options today because we weren’t getting the kind of passes she could do a lot with on offense.”
The No. 1 seed Lady Trojans will open OHSAA Division VI tournament play on Wednesday, October 15, hosting No. 14 seed National Trail Lady Blazers at 7 p.m.
“I’m excited,” Holman said. “I told the girls after this game we’re now playing for every day — there is no guarantee of tomorrow. I think we’re ready. Today we might have seemed a little out of sync, but I think we’re ready to play and give it a good run. We have a bright future, but we have to get mentally tough moving forward.”
Holman closed out the 2025 regular season with appreciation for her assistants, Angie Filbrun and Macy Hartman.
“I love having Angie as part of my team and Macy as well,” she said. “Just like today, when I had a player kind of go down, I could just ask Angie to take over, and she does. There are a lot of times Angie and I can just look at each other and know we’re thinking the same thing. It makes me feel good that we’re on the same page and doing what’s best for this team.”
