ANGOLA, IND. -- The Trine University men's volleyball team ended the 2019 season with a loss against Augustana (Ill.) College, 3-0, in Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League action at Hershey Hall on senior day.
Freshman Eric Santiago-Garcia (San Juan, Puerto Rico/Glen Ridge) led the Trine offensive effort with eight kills and had a .350 hitting percentage. Freshmen Kyle Dixon (Lockport, Ill./Lockport Township) and Jackson Condrey (Spokane, Wash./Ferris) were second with six kills each.
Junior Hunter Monday (Beech Grove, Ind./Lutheran) finished with a match-high 25 assists while Dixon, Santiago-Garcia, Condrey and freshman Luke Maier (Colorado Springs, Colo./Doherty) each had a service ace to round out the offensive leaders.
Santiago-Garcia also led the team in digs with six and was followed by Monday with five digs. Dixon and Maier both added four digs. At the net, Santiago-Garcia and freshman Dan Boren (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead) both tallied two total blocks. Santiago-Garcia had a solo and assisted block, while Boren had a pair of block assists.
The first set saw Augustana (12-15, 5-4 MCVL) score the first three points on its way to leading, 5-1, early. Trine (6-23, 0-9 MCVL) trailed for the majority of the set until a 4-0 scoring run while trailing by three points, put the Thunder out in front by a score of 15-14 on a kill by Dixon. Condrey and Santiago-Garcia also recorded kills during the run and Maier added an ace. The two teams then traded points via service errors to keep Trine in the lead, but the Vikings then scored back-to-back points to regain the lead for good. Augustana eventually put some distance between Trine on the scoreboard and tied its largest margin of the set of six points with a final score of 25-19.
Trine never led in set number two despite playing a competitive game that included several mini rallies after trailng 4-1 to start things off. The Thunder trailed by as many as four points multiple times, but worked their way back to trail by a point, 19-18, following a Viking error. Augustana then opened up to a four-point advantage, 22-18, until another rally by Trine with a 4-1 run, put the Thunder back to within a point, 23-22, after an ace by Santiago-Garcia. The Vikings ended the possible comeback with straight points to claim the victory with a final of 25-22 and took control of the match, 2-0.
Both teams battled to a 5-5 tie when Augustana rattled off four straight points to go up, 9-5. The Vikings later increased their lead to as many as six points, 17-11, but Trine would not go quietly and made it a two-point game, 17-15, aided by two straight errors by the visitors. That was as close as the Thunder got the rest of the way, however, as Augustana maintained the advantage and cruised to a 25-18 final to take the set and the overall match, 3-0.