ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University men's volleyball team rattled off their third win in a row on Tuesday night in straight sets over Indiana Tech. The Thunder are now 6-9 overall in the 2023 campaign and the Warriors of Indiana Tech are 9-7.
Trine had a hitting percentage of .271 in the match with Ted Hofmeister (14) and Kevin Boncaro (13) leading the way for the offense. Sam Bhandal set up 34 kills and racked up 13 digs to lead the squad defensively. Hunter Haas was also in double figures with 10 digs.
The two teams traded points early in the first set with service errors going both ways. Eventually, Indiana Tech was able to pull away slightly at 16-13, but a string of three consecutive points finished off by a kill from Hofmeister tied it up. The score remained deadlocked until it got to 21-21 and a solo block by Bhandal turned the momentum in favor of the home squad. Hofmeister was able to finish off the first with a kill, 25-23.
The Thunder got ahead 15-10 in set number two and that caused the Warriors to call for time. Boncaro received a bulk of the attacks with a team-high nine and he converted three of those to kills down the stretch in a 25-20 set victory. The sophomore tallied five of the 12 in the set for Trine.
The third and what would be final set of the night saw major miscommunications on Indiana Tech's side of the net as the Thunder went up 7-2 thanks to an ace from Bryan Maida. The Warriors were able to creep all the way back to within one at 10-9, but a solo block by Hofmeister halted the opposing scoring run. Another block at the net by Matt Stillman caused a timeout by the visitors with Trine ahead 18-15. A second timeout down the stretch from Indiana Tech was ineffective as the Thunder won 25-20 once more.
The grind for the Thunder carries on Wednesday, March 1 when Bethel University swings by Hershey Hall for a non-conference affair. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.