ERIE, Pa. – The Trine University men's volleyball team is rolling at the moment with six consecutive victories and each of the last five coming in just three sets, including a pair of wins in Saturday's tri-match. The Thunder were able to defeat Buffalo State University and Penn State University-Behrend in straight sets. Trine is now 9-4 on the season while Buffalo State ended the day with a 6-6 mark and PSU-Behrend at 3-8 overall.
TRINE vs BUFFALO STATE RECAP:
In the opening match for the Thunder, they were able to sweep their neutral site opponents thanks to a balanced attack on offense. Ted Hofmeister led the way with nine kills, but Matt Stillman and Kevin Boncaro had eight each. Nick Woolley dished out 27 assists in the match while Hunter Haas had 15 digs. Karl Both was involved in eight of the team's 11 blocks (one solo) to tie the school record for most in a match.
Set one was the best offensively for Trine at .417 (13 kills, three errors). Even with the calculated offense, they still found themselves trailing at 9-5 and 18-14, leading to a timeout. Seven of the next eight points belonged to the Thunder coming out of the break to make it 21-19. Three straight points went to the Bengals, but Hofmeister had a pair of kills in a string of four of the final five points in the 25-23 set win.
Once again in set two, Trine found themselves in a hole, this time at 12-8. The Thunder would take advantage of multiple errors from Buffalo State to capture the lead at 14-13 and another big scoring run led by Stillman gave Trine a seven-point lead at 23-16. Woolley would find Hofmeister for the set-clinching kill at 25-19.
Neither team was able to seize momentum early in the third set, but with the score tied at 14, a 6-0 run for the Thunder forced the Bengals to use both timeouts to try to stop the bleeding at 20-14 Trine. The teams matched each other down the stretch, but the lead was enough for the Thunder to stay ahead 25-20. Both teams had the same number of kills and errors, but it was feast or famine by Buffalo State with 14 kills and 14 errors (Trine had six of each).
TRINE vs PSU-BEHREND RECAP:
The Thunder and Lions wrapped up the tri-match with a 3-0 win for Trine. Hofmeister had a double-double with 14 kills and 12 digs, both teams highs. The team had nine aces, including five off the hand of Boncaro. Woolley led the team with 30 assists.
Johnson-Kuhao Ho'okano-Pelekai gave the Thunder a 15-11 lead in set one that led to a timeout called by the home team. PSU-Behrend would draw back to even with four straight points coming out of the break, but Trine was able to pull away late to a 25-19 victory in the first.
The start of the second was all Lions at 6-2, however a massive scoring run by the Thunder allowed them to claim a 21-13 edge. A late flurry from PSU-Behrend was not enough as Trine went up 2-0 following a 25-18 win. The Thunder only had the help of two Lion errors, but 13 kills in the set allowed the visitors to pull away.
Trine used 13 more kills in the third set to secure the sweep in closer fashion, 25-20. Once more, it was PSU-Behrend getting ahead early, this time 9-4, but the Thunder were persistent to end the match quickly. Consecutive aces by the Lions kept them in front 16-11, but a kill by Dylan Klumpp made the score 18-18. The final seven points in the match belonged to Trine with two aces served up by Boncaro.
UP NEXT:
The Thunder begin Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League (MCVL) action on Thursday, February 29 against the Calvin University Knights in their first season as a program and in the conference. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.