ANGOLA, IND. -- The Trine University men's volleyball team captured its first win of the season with a 3-1 victory against Thiel (Pa.) College in the home opener at Hershey Hall as part of the "Off the Block Grow the Game Challenge."
The Thunder defeated the Tomcats by the scores of 25-21, 24-26, 25-22 and 25-14.
Sophomore Kyle Dixon (Lockport, Ill./Lockport Township) led the team in kills with 14 and was followed by Dominic Saenz (Wall Twp., N.J./Wall) with 12 kills and had a .524 attack percentage. Fellow freshman Parker Beale (Noblesville, Ind./Fishers) rounded out the double-digit leaders in kills with 11 to go along with a .300 attack percentage for the match.
Senior Hunter Monday (Beech Grove, Ill./Lutheran) tallied 37 of the team's 46 set assists and the trio of Dixon, freshman Chris Dargan (Manhattan, Ill./Lincoln Way West) and sophomore Dan Boren (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead) all had a pair of service aces.
Defensively, Monday had a team-high 10 digs, followed by sophomore Eric Santiago-Garcia (San Juan, Puerto Rico/Glen Ridge) with nine digs and Saenz added seven digs. At the net, Dargan and Dixon both finished with three total blocks (one solo and two assists each).
Trine (1-3) maintained a lead for the majority of the first set with a large lead of five points after back-to-back offensive errors by Thiel (0-1). The Tomcats came back to even the set at 20-20 and then evened the score for a second time two points later at 21-21. The Thunder then tallied three straight points thanks to a kill by Dixon and consecutive aces by Dargan to give Trine a 24-21 advantage. Trine then got the winning point on a Thiel error to go to the 25-21 final.
The two teams played a contested game in the second set with both teams swapping leads throughout. Saenz highlighted the set for Trine with four kills in addition to Dixon who had three kills and Beale added a pair of kills. Thiel had set point by a score of 24-23, but a kill by Beale prolonged the game and deadlocked the teams at 24-24. The Tomcats then got the final points it needed by way of a kill and then a Trine error to take the set, 26-24, and even the overall match at a set apiece.
In the third set, Trine trailed by as many as three points multiple times, including a 21-18 deficit as Thiel looked to be headed to a possible victory and take control of the match. But Trine then went on a 7-1 scoring run, highlighted by two aces and a kill by Saenz and then a kill by Boren, to come from behind and take a 25-22 set victory and more importantly, a 2-1 margin in the match.
Trine dominated in the fourth set by jumping out to a 20-9 lead and saw Beale tally six kills while posting a .857 attack percentage. Dixon finished the set with four kills and a .500 attack percentage. The Thunder advantage never waivered for the remainder of the set as the home team duplicated its 11-point lead several times down the stretch, including the final score of 25-14 to take the overall match by a final of 3-1.
Trine will conclude the two-day Off the Block Grow the Game Challenge with a match against Concordia University Wisconsin at Hershey Hall. The match is scheduled to begin at approximately 1 p.m.