Trinity Lutheran’s volleyball team lost 25-12, 25-11, 28-26 to Hauser on Thursday night in the Bollinger Athletic Complex.

The Jets’ attacking started quickly in the first set as Bre Metz’s second kill gave the Jets a 3-0 lead.

While the Jets continued to pound the net, the Cougars were unable to pet any string of points together in that first set as they scored back-to-back point only twice and trailed 13-7.

The Jets scored six straight points before the Cougars rallied for three straight points with an ace serve by Hannah Sabotin, making it a 19-10 score.

“They were very quick on their front row, so it was making our blockers get off,” Cougars coach Chelsea Stroub said.

The rest of the match was much closer.

The second set was tied six times, and the Cougars held an 8-7 lead before Hauser increased its lead.

The third was even closer — with 13 ties.

Trinity held a 9-6 lead following a kill by Hailley Peters, and were on top 11-10 following an ace serve by Ashley Goecker.

The set was tied at 21, 24 and 26.

Hauser scored their 27th point on a kill by Sydney Schoen and match point on an ace by Metz.

The Cougars were 70-for-76 with 14 kills in attacks with Sabotin leading the team with three kills.

Whitney Rogers and Sydney Stahl both had two aces.

“We’re definitely going to work being quicker at the net on our blocking,” Stroub said. “That makes our defense overall cleaner.

“I think we got more comfortable in the second and third games. We started realizing that they were faster at the net so we started making our game quicker too.” We definitely started to pick it up in the last two games.”

The Cougars (7-10) will host the Cougar Invitational on Saturday.

The Cougars will face Crothersville at 9 a.m., and that match will be followed by Hauser playing Jennings County.