MISHAWAKA, Ind. – The Trine University men's volleyball team dropped their second consecutive five-set match on Tuesday evening at Bethel University. The Thunder won the first two sets before falling in the third and fourth. In the winner-take-all fifth set, the Pilots were able to go on a scoring run to seal the set and the match. Trine is now 3-3 this season and Bethel, 1-0.
Trine had three student-athletes with double-digit kills in Kevin Boncaro (14), Ted Hofmeister (12) and Johnson-Kuhao Ho'okano-Pelekai (10) but struggled with consistency at an .098 hitting percentage. Nick Woolley had 30 assists and Hunter Haas led the way with 14 digs. Karl Both was credited with three solo blocks and chipped in on four block assists.
Blocks up front helped get the Thunder to an early lead in set one 13-7. With the set nearly in reach, Bethel was able to go on a run to make it close, but Trine was able to escape with the 26-24 win. Set two would be all Thunder as a kill by Boncaro put the visitors ahead 11-3 and forced the Pilots into a timeout. The lead would stay with Trine for the remainder of the set as they went up 2-0 with a 25-21 set win.
Trine looked as though they would pull off the sweep with a lead in the third, however Bethel had other plans in their season-opener. They would notch 15 kills to three errors to come away with the set win 25-18. Once more in the fourth set, the Thunder led early, but came up short. This time it was a much closer margin at 25-23. A timeout by the Pilots trailing 21-20 would be successful in shifting the momentum of the set and force a fifth set.
Trine took advantage of miscues by Bethel to go up 6-5, but with the score tied at eight apiece, the Pilots would go on to score six of the final seven points to rally for the set win 15-9 and the match win.
This weekend, the Thunder are at Illinois Wesleyan University for a tri-match also involving Aurora University. The first match for Trine is at 3:30 p.m. EST on Saturday, February 3 against the Spartans on a neutral floor.