ANGOLA, Ind. - On a night where they celebrated the courage of a little girl named Brooklyn, the Trine University volleyball team won their conference match against Adrian College 3-1 (25-18, 27-25, 21-25, 25-20). The Thunder improved to 16-8 on the year and 7-4 in the MIAA.
Playing their annual Dig For A Cure match, the Thunder used the game to ‘Spike Rett for Brooklyn’ and raise awareness for Rett Syndrome in honor of Brooklyn Butler. Trine used the night to raise funds in Brooklyn’s name for Girl Power 2 Cure, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness and funds for treatments and a cure for Rett Syndrome.
Trine opened the match by running away early in the first set as they led by 10 at 14-4. Trine would push their lead to 20-9 before Adrian would begin to mount a comeback. The Bulldogs would pull within eight, but the Thunder would put the set away on a kill by freshman Taylor Rabel (Muncie, Ind./Muncie Central).
Set number two was a back-and-forth set that saw seven ties and four lead changes, where no team led by more than four points. Initially the Thunder built a 5-1 lead, but Adrian would rally to score nine of the next 10 points to lead 10-6. It would be Trine’s turn to battle back as they would go on an 8-0 run to lead 15-11. The two sides would begin to trade points before Adrian would rally for five straight points to take a 21-20 lead. The two sides would again trade points before the Thunder would make a final rally, scoring the final three points of the set.
Trine would again start with an early lead in the third set, as they led 7-3. Adrian would again battle back to take the lead 11-10. After the Bulldogs led 16-13, the two teams would trade off points, as the Thunder were unable to regain the lead from there.
In the final set, the Thunder would again take an early 7-3 lead, before seeing the Bulldogs pull off another rally. With the game tied 9-9, the teams would swap points before the Thunder were able to start pulling away winning six straight points to lead 17-13. Adrian would close the gap to one at 20-19, but Trine would rally to score five of the final six points and take the match.
After breaking the school kills record by one during their last game, senior Betsy Irwin (Athens, Ohio /Alexander) made no doubt that she is the Thunder’s all-time leader, finishing the night with 13 kills to go along with a game-high five aces. Sophomore Carly Searles (Levering, Mich./Petoskey) earned her 15th double-double of the season, finishing the night with 15 assists, 11 kills and seven digs. Rabel ended the night with eight kills and six digs while fellow freshman Lauren Verkamp (Franklin, Ind./Franklin Community) had seven kills and seven digs.
Senior Sarah Radekin (Athens, Ohio /Alexander) narrowly missed a double-double finishing with a game-high 26 assists and adding in eight digs. Junior Darcy Crabtree (Muncie, Ind./Wes-Del) led all players with 17 digs on the evening.
Trine will have almost a week off before returning to action on October 16 when they travel to Kalamazoo for a 7:00 p.m. match.