NOTRE DAME, Ind. - It was a tough pill to swallow for the Trine University volleyball team as they fell just short in their comeback attempt falling to Saint Mary’s 3-2 (25-23, 15-25, 25-19, 16-25, 15-7). With the loss the Thunder fall to 14-8 overall on the season and 5-4 in the MIAA.
The Thunder built an early 4-0 lead to start the match, as the Thunder built to an 18-12 lead. The Belles would mount a comeback, winning 10 straight points. As Saint Mary’s led 23-19, the Thunder would mount a comeback of their own winning four straight points, including three consecutive blocks by senior Betsy Irwin (Athens, Ohio /Alexander) and freshman Taylor Rabel (Muncie, Ind./Muncie Central) to tie it 23-23. The Belles would win the final two points to take the set ending the Thunder comeback.
Trine would blow-out the Belles in set number two as they sprinted to an 18-7 lead off several runs including an eight point streak. Trine would score four of the final five points to tie the match.
In the third set the Thunder would again score the first points to lead it 6-2 before the Belles would mount a comeback to take the lead 9-8. The two sides would trade points before Saint Mary’s began to pull away with the score 16-15.
Junior Darcy Crabtree (Muncie, Ind./Wes-Del) would score the first two points of the fourth set with back-to-back aces to again give the Thunder an early lead. With Trine leading 5-2, the Belles would answer with five straight points to take the lead 7-5. The Thunder refused to give in as they would answer with 10 of the next 11 points to take a 15-8 lead. Saint Mary’s would pull within five, but Trine would not allow the Belles to get back into the set as they took five of the last six points.
For the first time on the night, the Thunder failed to win the first point of the final set, but the two sides traded points as the Thunder battled back from an early three point deficit. With Saint Mary’s leading 6-5, the Belles to score six straight points as the Thunder were unable to mount a comeback.
Irwin led the Thunder with 11 kills on the night to go along with a match-high four blocks. Freshman Lauren Verkamp (Franklin, Ind./Franklin Community) had a career-high 10 kills on the night to hit a match-high .296 while making seven digs. Verkamp also tied a career-high with a game-high four aces. Rabel just missed a double-double for the night, finishing with 11 digs and eight kills.
Senior Sarah Radekin (Athens, Ohio /Alexander) led the Thunder offense with 26 assists. Sophomore Carly Searles (Levering, Mich./Petoskey) finished with her 13th double-double of the season with 11 digs, 11 assists and seven kills. Crabtree led the Thunder with 14 digs on the night while dropping in three aces.
The Thunder will go right back to work as they travel to Albion on October 6 for an 11:00 a.m. match.
