CINCINNATI, Ohio – In the team's first regular season matches against NCAA DIII teams, the Trine University men's volleyball team swept both opponents at the MSJ Tri-match on Saturday. The Thunder defeated Wisconsin Lutheran College in their first contest of the day and beat the host Mount St. Joseph University in the final match of the day.
Trine is now 2-1 overall this season. Wisconsin Lutheran falls to 0-2 while the Lions of Mount St. Joseph are now an even 2-2.
TRINE vs WLC RECAP:
Trine used a hitting percentage of .345 in their first match to cruise to a three-set victory over the Warriors. Wisconsin Lutheran was restricted to just .025 on their hitting percentage. The Thunder went up early in the first set thanks to a pair of kills by Ethan McLenon to make it 10-4 in the first set. Wisconsin Lutheran got back to within three at 14-11, but a scoring attack led by Kevin Boncaro extended the lead and resulted in a 25-16 set one win.
The Warriors were keen to play even in set two, but were forced to call for time after Trine went from a 7-7 set to a 16-10 advantage. Johnson-Kuhao Ho'okano-Pelekai was the catalyst for the run. Nick Woolley found DJ Vinson for a kill to put the Thunder up 22-14 and a little run by Wisconsin Lutheran was not enough as the Thunder went up 2-0 with a 25-18 triumph.
The third set was the closest of the match, but still Trine was able to seal the deal with a 25-23 victory. Vinson had back-to-back kills to put the team up 14-10 and the Thunder would maintain a steady gap of a handful of points for the duration of the set win.
A career-high 12 kills for McLenon paced the team on offense and on defense, he also led with eight digs. The setter Woolley had 36 assists in the win. Karl Both recorded seven kills.
TRINE vs MSJ RECAP:
A non-conference matchup against Mount St. Joseph allowed the Thunder to get the season started on a high note and deliver a message to the rest of the league as far as the competitiveness of the team. Trine was once again efficient on offense with a .316 hitting percentage.
This time it was a diverse attack with three student-athletes getting into double figures on kills. Ho'okano-Pelekai led the way with 12 and Boncaro (11) and Ted Hofmeister (10) were close behind. Woolley dished out 37 of the team's 39 assists. Hunter Haas dug out 12 opposing attacks to pace the squad.
Errors were limited on both sides in the first set with five in total. Hofmeister and Liam Northrup were scoring in the middle stages to give Trine the lead 19-14. The Lions called a timeout to regroup and got to within two at times, but the Thunder were able to muscle out a 25-21 set win.
Work at the net put Trine up early in the second set 12-5 with three combined blocks. Mount St. Joseph used both timeouts to try to stop the run, but it was no use as the second would result in the largest discrepancy between the teams at 25-18. Boncaro and Ho'okano-Pelekai chipped in on the attack late in the set.
Mount St. Joseph showed fight in the third set, but a 5-0 scoring run allowed the Thunder to take the lead at 10-8. Once again, the Lions were quick with timeouts to try to keep pace with Trine, but it would not work out in their favor. The final five points in the match belonged to the Thunder to get to 2-1 overall.
Trine will be at home for the first time in the new year for their next contest on Saturday, January 27. Their match with Marian University out of Wisconsin kicks off at 6 p.m. inside Hershey Hall.