MEQUON, Wisc. – On day two of the CUW Invite, the Trine University men's volleyball team was on the losing end of two matches on Saturday. The Thunder were defeated by the Milwaukee School of Engineering 3-1 and dropped their final match of the event 3-0 to nationally-ranked University of California Santa Cruz.
Trine has now lost four in a row and are 1-5 in 2023. MSOE won their first match of the season at 1-3 when they faced the Thunder, and UC Santa Cruz, #10 in the most recent American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Men's NCAA DIII Coaches Poll, is 9-3 overall.
TRINE vs MSOE RECAP:
It was all Trine in the first set against the Raiders as the team got ahead 8-1 and forced MSOE into an early timeout. Kevin Boncaro had three kills in that span and two aces came from Johnson-Kuhao Ho'okano-Pelekai. The Raiders fought back, but Carter Steffgen was the main culprit on offense for the Thunder in the middle stages. Trine was up 19-14, but from there MSOE scored 11-of-15 points to take the opener, 25-23.
Set two would be much more balanced, as a Matt Stillman kill sparked a scoring run for the Thunder to go up 13-10. Ted Hofmeister would do the same later on as Trine rattled off seven in a row to help the team cruise to a 25-16 win. The Thunder had 12 kills to just three errors and held the Raiders to a .028 hitting percentage.
The third set would be the worst of the match as self-inflicted wounds put the team in a hole that they could not climb out of. A block by Boncaro and Stillman put Trine ahead 9-8, but an 8-2 run for the opponents gave MSOE a 16-11 edge. In total, the Raiders would win the third 25-18.
The battle continued for set number four, but ultimately it was the Raiders gaining the set and match win, 25-23. Overall, it was an even match, but a pair of small scoring runs for MSOE was all it took. Hofmeister led the way with six kills in the set, but 15 kills for the opponents was too much to overcome.
Boncaro had 15 kills to pace the team and Hofmeister was behind with 10. Sam Bhandal had a team-high value in assists (19) and digs (14). Hunter Haas had 12 digs from the back row as well.
TRINE vs #10 UC SANTA CRUZ:
The nationally-ranked Banana Slugs of UC Santa Cruz dominated the match, but early in the first set, Trine was able to overcome the first punch thrown by their opponents. Bhandal found Stillman and Boncaro for kills to keep the Thunder within one at 6-5. A massive scoring run allowed the Banana Slugs to double up Trine 20-10 and secure the set win at 25-16.
Six straight points for UC Santa Cruz after the second was tied at six allowed the Banana Slugs to pull away. DJ Vinson and Dylan Klumpp added kills late in the 25-18 set, the closest of the match. Trine held UC Santa Cruz to their lowest hitting percentage of the match at .150.
Sam Buckingham had a kill at the start of the third set for the Thunder, but an early scoring spree for the Banana Slugs allowed them to pull away. A pair of aces from Stillman and Ho'okano-Pelekai highlighted the middle stages of the third, but it was the #10 team in the country that came away with the set win at 25-18. Trine hit their best percentage of the match in the third.
In total, Stillman's seven kills led the offense with Bhandal giving out 14 assists. Ho'okano-Pelekai had five digs.
Next weekend, the Thunder go east to upstate New York to compete in the Raptor Classic. The first match is a road contest against St. John Fisher on Friday, February 10 at 6 p.m.
