With her team playing its third match of the week and coming off back-to-back losses, St. Bede volleyball coach Nicole Trenka made some lineup changes for Thursday’s Tri-County Conference match against Woodland.

Trenka put in different defensive specialists and changed both of the Bruins’ right-side hitters.

“We have 18 on the bench, so we definitely have a deep bench, and we definitely have some options,” Trenka said. “We always try to mix it around to see what works well and what flows. Luckily, they all can figure it out pretty quickly.”

It all worked well for the Bruins as they beat the Warriors 25-16, 25-22 to stay undefeated in conference play.

“I think we really came together,” Trenka said. “I threw a couple lineups out there and changed a few things, and I feel like they’re really good at adjusting, keeping their heads in the game and really staying up.”

St. Bede sophomore outside hitter Nell Potthoff said the Bruins were motivated after back-to-back three-set losses.

“I think coming off a loss to Bureau Valley on Monday and losing (Wednesday), we really wanted to win this game,” Potthoff said. “I think it really inspired us to win.

“I think we played really well. We worked together well as a team. We kept the energy up the entire game, which we haven’t done in the past, so I think it’s really starting to come together for us.”

The Bruins stumbled out of the gate in the first set, falling behind 9-4.

After a Woodland service error, St. Bede senior Lily Bosnich stepped to the line and rattled off nine consecutive points. The run included a pair of aces, a kill and two blocks by Hanna Waszkowiak and a kill by Kijah Lucas.

“Our consistent serves were a big factor in that,” Trenka said. “I think just making sure we were not making errors on our end (was key). A lot of times we get a little overexcited and make silly mistakes, so making sure we stayed calm and regroup every point and found holes was important.”

The Bruins had another big run behind the serve of senior Ava Balestri that extended St. Bede’s lead from 15-13 to 21-13.

St. Bede led by at least seven points the rest of the way and closed out the set with an ace by Waszkowiak.

“I feel confident with how we played tonight,” Woodland coach Michelle Pitte said. “They played really well considering all the errors we made ourselves, which was a big thing. I think they gave it their all. There were a couple moments where we had some, ‘Oh, my bad,” but we’ll take that to the gym tomorrow and practice that.”

The second set was tight most of the way with neither team leading by more than four points until Balestri put together another service run.

The setter served for five points to give the Bruins a 22-18 lead. Woodland rallied within one point twice, but a kill off the block by Potthoff and a kill of a freeball by senior Jillian Pinter closed out the match.

“We had a lot of aces,” Potthof said. “I think we hit the zones our coach gave us pretty well.

“We hit cross, which was open a lot this game, and used that to our advantage.”

Potthoff led the Bruins (7-4-1, 3-0 TCC) with nine kills, while Lucas put down seven. Balestri had 13 assists, and Bosnich contributed eight digs and two aces.

“I think this is a huge motivation and energy boost,” Trenka said. “It’s exactly what we needed. It was a conference match. We needed to make sure we were mentally in it. We had to learn from (our losses), but also leave them in the past and focus on this game.”

Grace Longmire led the Warriors (3-10, 0-3) with 10 kills.