BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Trine University men's volleyball team competed in a very tough tri-match on Saturday afternoon against Aurora University and Illinois Wesleyan University. The Thunder were defeated by Aurora in four sets but came away with a split following a 3-1 victory against the host Titans.
The 1-1 weekend puts Trine at 2-4 this season while the Spartans of Aurora are 1-4 after facing three nationally ranked teams to start the year and Illinois Wesleyan sits at 4-2 overall.
TRINE vs AURORA RECAP:
The Thunder were able to start their day with a win in set one against Aurora by a score of 25-21. Back-to-back kills by Karl Both helped put Trine up 16-13 and they would not relinquish the lead from there. The Spartans had to use both timeouts to try to shift momentum but were unsuccessful in doing so.
Blocking by the Thunder in set two allowed the team to take a 16-14 lead. Both, Kevin Boncaro, Landon Barrow and Nick Woolley all combined for blocks on three consecutive points to put them in front, but a timeout would lead to Aurora getting back in front. Trine would come up short 25-22 despite a .250 hitting percentage (eight kills, two errors).
After a slow start in the third, Head Coach William Dowdy called for a break trailing 10-4. An immediate 4-0 run with two kills by Boncaro helped bring the Thunder to within one, but the Spartans would pull away and hold off a late rally by Trine to secure the set win 25-21.
The Thunder would pepper Aurora with 47 attacks in the fourth set, but the back row would stand tall for the Spartans to come away with the set win 25-22 and the match victory. Johnson-Kuhao Ho'okano-Pelekai and Barrow gave Trine a 6-2 lead, but Aurora would eventually wear down the Thunder to get back in front. Six of the final seven points in the match went to the Spartans.
Ted Hofmeister had a team-high 11 kills and Woolley set up 31 of the team's 34 kills with an assist. Hunter Haas dug out 19 opposing attacks, a season high. Both was involved in six of the team's blocks, two solo.
TRINE vs ILLINOIS WESLEYAN RECAP:
The offense for Trine against Illinois Wesleyan was as good as it could have been. The team had double digit kills in all four sets and two were error-free. The Thunder held a .271 kill percentage in the match, led by Hofmeister at .469 (19 kills). Haas (14) and Woolley (11) each had double digit digs for the squad and Both was in on seven blocks (three solo).
Sets one and two had an identical score of 25-20 in favor of the visiting team. A string of seven points out of eight forced the Titans to use both timeouts with Trine leading 18-9 after a service ace by Barrow. Illinois Wesleyan would make a run at it, but the hole was too much for them to overcome and the Thunder hung on for the set one win.
A back-and-forth affair in set two needed to be resolved after a 17-17 tie through the first two-thirds of the second. A kill by Hofmeister started a string of three consecutive points for Trine and a pair of errors made it 22-18 Thunder. The final three points went to Trine in the 25-20 triumph.
The third set saw the familiar score of 25-20, only it was the home team securing the win to stay alive. The Thunder were in front early 12-8, but five straight points for the Titans put them in the lead and they would pull away for the victory.
The first five points in set four went to Trine en route to a dominant 25-12 set win to clinch the match. Along with going error-free in the final set, the Thunder also received the help of ten errors by Illinois Wesleyan.
Up next, Trine will travel east to New York to take part in the Hilbert Tri-match on Saturday, February 10. The team's first match will come against the State University of New York (SUNY) Poly at 2 p.m.