BOURBON — They are the team that just won’t go away. The team that thrives off of five-game matches. The team that, quite frankly, is hard to figure out.

The Tippecanoe Valley volleyball team dropped its first two games to rival Triton Thursday night before rallying to win the final three to claim the match 3-2. While some teams might only experience that scenario once or twice a season, Thursday night was already the third time this year Valley has rallied from two down to force a fifth game. The Vikings pulled the same stunt on Wawasee, a 3-2 win, and North Miami, a 3-2 loss.

“I hate that it comes to that, I don’t know why that’s our thing,” said Valley coach Mallory Eaton. “There’s just something about having no other options for us. When we know it’s win or go home, these girls want to win. They want it deep down, but its about building that confidence. If we’d just do that in game one, then we wouldn’t have to be in these type of situations. We hardly played a fifth game last season, and this year we’ve probably played four or five of them already.”

Eaton’s squad dug itself a hole in the first game and, despite making it close, could not quite climb out of it, falling 25-20. Game two offered a competitive, back and forth style that truly highlighted the positives for both squad. Again, Triton found the path to victory to take a 25-23 decision. Apparently, as Eaton explained, that was the tipping point for the Vikings. It suddenly became win or go home. Valley jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the third set and would lead by as much as nine at 19-10. Triton tried to rally, closing the gap to 19-16, but a 25-19 Valley victory forced a fourth game, which the Vikings won 25-21.

Valley looked like it was going to run away with the fifth game, jumping out to a 6-0 lead, but the Trojans fought back to make it 6-4. The two teams exchanged punches before the Vikings eventually finished their comeback and claimed a 15-12 win.

“They’re high school girls, so you never what you’re going to get,” Eaton stated. “One of the things we say in practice is, ‘Collaborate or fail.’ Those are your options. You either work together or you’re going to fail. They chose to collaborate tonight.

“I changed some things up and Taneisha (Brown) brought a lot of energy. She was hustling out on the court and I think she was literally that game changer for us and everybody followed suit.”

Triton had all of the energy and momentum at the start, but Gayle Perry’s squad just lost its confidence as the night went on.

“We kind of dominated those first two games,” stated Perry. “Then they (Valley) kind of went to this soft serve approach and we lost our minds for a while. We couldn’t get a good pass on the net after that. We had good passes, but we couldn’t get them on the net, so we couldn’t attack. We’re about power. That’s how I built this team, I want them to hit the ball. They kind of changed their strategy and found a way that, we just didn’t want to get our feet to the ball.

“We grew through the match, sometimes you have to lose before you can win. It was a great match for us to learn and grow in. We played with great passion all night.”

Perry emphasized that her team still has a lot of learning to do.

“I was talking to them tonight about stuff we went over in practice,” Perry explained. “Things like talking to their setter, calling their sets, before the play ever starts, just trying to get them more game knowledge. I’m amazed at how little they know about the game. They have good skills, but they don’t understand strategy. We’re still learning.

“We’re getting closer to where we need to be. It’s a journey. Half of the reward of the season is the journey they take as players. Wherever they start is definitely not where we’re going to end up.”

Abby Betten led Valley with 21 kills, 19 digs and three aces. Emily Peterson had 41 assists. Triton’s Hannah Wanemacher led her team with 38 assists. Nicole Sechrist had 20 kills. Quinn Downing recorded 22 digs.

Valley is now 11-5 overall. Triton is now 6-4. The Trojans host their annual invite this Saturday.

Valley swept Triton in the JV contest 2-0.