ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University men's volleyball team picked up a win over the University of Jamestown in non-conference action on Thursday night 3-1.
The Thunder (7-10) showed great prowess around the net by hitting .310 as a team, the second-highest hitting percentage in a match this season. The Jimmies (13-5), who are the number six-ranked team in NAIA, drop their second in a row, but came out of the gates firing on all cylinders.
In the first set, Jamestown was error-free on attacks and ran away with a 25-16 win. The Jimmies set the bar high by connecting on 15 kills (.652 hitting percentage) and were 15-of-16 (.930) on sideouts.
The Thunder would not be deterred and made key adjustments going into set number two. Sophomores Ted Hofmeister [Powell, Ohio / Saint Charles] and Sam Buckingham [Saginaw, Mich. / Nouvel Catholic Central] each had a kill to start the set and Kevin Boncaro [Rochester, N.Y. / Rush Henrietta] threw down back-to-back kills to give Trine a 10-9 edge.
The lead grew to 17-11 following a big time kill by Eric Santiago-Garcia [Dorado, Puerto Rico / Glen Ridge] and service aces by Sam Bhandal [Marysville, Wash. / Marysville] and Boncaro. Jamestown would not go away easily and fought to get back to within a point, but the Thunder continued to flex their muscles on the offensive end by scoring four of the final five points in a 25-21 set two victory.
Set three saw the score tied nine times over the course of the first 11 points. The Jimmies took a slight advantage at 16-13, but Trine was not to be deterred. Led by Buckingham, the Thunder got the match back to even at 17 all, and Ethan Howard [South Whitley, Ind. / Witko] found Boncaro to spark a three-point run and force a Jimmie timeout.
A key block by Hofmeister and Matt Stillman [Mokena, Ill. / Lincoln Way Central] gave Trine a 23-22 lead and a timeout by head coach William Dowdy would seize momentum for the 25-23 win in the third.
The fourth set saw the best hitting of the night for the home squad at .536 and 17 kills to two errors. Howard wrapped up a three-point run to start the set with a service ace and the lead grew to as many as four at the halfway point, 12-8. The largest lead of the set was at 22-15 Trine after a service error by the Jimmies and consecutive kills by Stillman and Santiago-Garcia put the match away with a 25-18 set four victory.
Boncaro led the way offensively with 17 kills, a season-high for the freshman. He had six in the match-deciding fourth set. Hofmeister had double-digit kills with 15 as well. Howard had 42 assists on 52 total kills and dug out a team-high 10 opposing attacks. Libero Hunter Haas [Cincinnati, Ohio / Bishop Moeller] was also key defensively with eight digs.
The non-conference homestand continues on Saturday, March 12 when the Thunder play host to Wisconsin Lutheran College at 7 pm.