ST. LOUIS, MO. -- The Trine University men's volleyball team traveled to St. Louis, Mo. to take on Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League (MCVL) opponent, Fontbonne (Mo.) University, but fell to the Griffins in both matches, 3-1 and 3-0, at Mabee Gymnasium.
In the first match, Trine (5-3, 5-3 MCVL) had one player to finish with 10 or more kills in junior Kyle Dixon (Lockport, Ill./Lockport Township) with 14. Junior Dan Boren (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead) was second with eight kills and freshman Matt Stillman (Mokena, Ill./Lincoln Way Central) added seven kills.
Senior Hunter Monday (Beech Grove, Ind./Lutheran) tallied a team-high 34 assists and was also second on the team in digs with 10.
Freshman Hunter Haas (Cincinnati, Ohio/Bishop Moeller) led the team in digs with 17 and Stillman led the defensive effort at the net with four total blocks (all assists).
Trine played hard-fought games in three out of the four sets in the match, but ultimately fell short by the scores of 22-25, 14-25, 27-25 and 23-25. The two squads swap leads throughout the first set with Trine's last lead coming at 19-18 following a kill by Dixon. The teams worked to a 21-21 tie when Fontbonne (9-1, 8-0 MCVL) scored three straight points to grab a 24-21 advantage. The Thunder then scored a point on a Griffin service error before Fontbonne got the game-winner on a kill to seal the 25-22 win.
The second set began in similar fashion as the first until a 7-0 Griffin run gave Fontbonne some breathing room with a 15-6 advantage. Fontbonne went on lead by as many as 12 points which proved to be enough as the Griffins took set two by a final of 25-14 and took a commanding 2-0 match lead.
Fontbonned tallied the first three points of the third set and led by as many as four points multiple times. Trailing by two points, 23-21, Trine scored three consecutive points on three offensive errors by Fontbonne to move ahead on the scoreboard, 24-23. A few points later, the two teams found themselves even at 25-25 when back-to-back kills by sophomore Parker Beale (Noblesville, Ind./Fishers) and Boren sealed the victory in the set and kept the match going by a score of 2-1.
The fourth set began with the Griffins taking a 5-2 advantage, but Trine held firm and never allowed the deficit to grow beyond three points throughout the game. The Thunder trailed by a point late in the set, 23-22 until a kill by Fontbonne gave the home team a set and match point opportunity (24-22). Trine managed to negate the first match point thanks to a kill by Dixon that pulled the Thunder back to within a point, 24-23. But an error by Trine on the next rally gave the Griffins the point they needed to claim the set by a final of 25-23 and the overall match, 3-1.
The second match saw Fontbonne win by the scores of 25-13, 25-19 and 25-19. Trine was led offensively by the duo of Boren and sophomore Dominic Saenz (Wall Twp., N.J./Wall) who both had six kills. Dixon was third with four kills. Monday had a team-high 20 assists to round out the offensive high scorers.
Haas was the lone Thunder player in double figures in digs with 12. Stillman again led the team in blocks with four total (four assists) and Monday was second with three blocks (three assists).
Both teams battled to a 2-2 tie early in the first set. Fontbonne then scored four unanswered points to take a 6-2 lead and continued to pull away thanks to multiple scoring runs. The Griffins recorded their first double-digit lead at 23-13 and posted their largest lead of the game with a final score of 25-13.
Trine trailed by as many as seven points in set number two, 17-10, but worked its way back to within four points, 18-14. That was as close as the Thunder got, however, the remainder of the game as Fontbonne maintained enough of a distance on the scoreboard to claim a 25-19 set win and grab a 2-0 match lead.
Trine again stayed within striking distance of the lead in the early rallies of the third set, but a series of mini scoring runs allowed Fontbonne to gradually pull away and found itself up by seven points late, 18-11. The Griffins went on to lead by as many as eight points, 24-16, when the Thunder made some noise with back-to-back-to-back scores, highlighted by a service ace by freshman Ted Hofmesiter (Powell, Ohio/Saint Charles), that cut the deficit to five points, 24-19. After an ensuing timeout by Fontbonne, the Griffins then scored the final point on a kill en route to the 25-19 final and the overall match victory by a margin of 3-0.
The Thunder are slated to return home to host Olivet (Mich.) College in a pair of MCVL matches next Sunday, Feb. 28 at Hershey Hall. The first match is scheduled to start at 11 a.m.