ALBION, Mich. - The Thunder held off a scrappy Albion team on the road Tuesday night 3-1 (25-22, 25-18, 19-25, 25-19), and put themselves in position to qualify for the MIAA Tournament with a win against Alma at Hershey Hall on Friday night. Trine officially controls their own destiny, and will qualify for the postseason tournament for the third consecutive time with a win against the Scots in their regular-season finale.
None of that would have been possible without the victory at Albion (1-14, 6-22) on Tuesday. It was the fourth consecutive win for the Thunder (7-8, 15-14) and marked the return of sophomore Taylor Rabel (Muncie, Ind./Muncie Central) to the lineup after missing three matches with an injury.
The first set was a battle. The teams split the first 12 points to deadlock things at 6-6 on a kill by junior setter Carly Searles (Levering, Mich./Petoskey). Trine attempted to pull away from the Britons several times. They led 9-6 after two kills from sophomore Stephanie Radandt (Walkerton, Ind./John Glenn) and one from freshman Laura Hartman (Laingsburg, Mich./Laingsburg). In fact, they led by three points on five different occasions in the first set. The last time was at 19-16, on a service ace by senior libero Carlee Felber. (Newman, Calif./Orestimba). That forced an Albion timeout and seemed to energize the Britons. They rattled off four straight points to take their first lead of the set, at 20-19.
That set the stage for the emergence of Rabel. She came off the bench to make her first appearance in 10 days, and made her presence immediately known. Her first touch was a powerful kill to tie the score at 20-20. The scored remained tied at 22-22, when Rabel finished off another kill and propelled the Thunder back into the lead. Junior Erin Lewis (Farmland, Ind./Winchester Community) capped off the first set with an ace to give the Thunder the win, 25-22.
The second set was dominated early by the Thunder. Rabel rattled off three early kills to key an 8-4 Thunder lead. But the momentum began to shift. The Britons battled back to take an 11-10 lead on a kill by freshman Lauren Outwater. Trine scored five of the next six points on a block by Searles, a block by sophomore Olivia Deck (Lansing, Mich./Grand Ledge) and an ace from Felber to lead 15-12. Trine would never look back. Hartman recorded three late kills and Rabel put the set away on an athletic point to win, 25-18.
Set three belonged to the Britons. Hartman notched a kill to give the Thunder their last lead of the set, at 6-5. Albion responded with a 6-1 run to take an 11-6 advantage. Trine would get no closer than two points the rest of the way as Albion rattled off a 25-19 win.
Trine seemed to bounce back quickly in the fourth set, taking a 4-1 lead keyed by two Rabel kills and a point by Searles. But Albion surged on a 5-0 run to storm in front, 6-4. They continued to roll, and built their biggest lead of the fourth set at 15-9. The big crowd at Kresge Gymnasium began to build, but Trine responded. It was all Thunder from that point as Trine exploded with a 16-4 run to the end the match. They began to chip away at the lead as sophomore Lauren Verkamp (Franklin, Ind./Franklin Community) notched an important kill followed by two more Hartman scores to trail 16-12. Trine tied it at 18-18 after back-to-back kills by Rabel and another ace by Felber. Trine kept the pressure on with two more Rabel scores, a stuff at the net by Deck and a Radandt kill to catapult in front, 23-19. Lauren Verkamp spiraled in a powerful right-handed kill and Trine forced an Albion passing error to secure the win, 25-19.
The Thunder were led in kills by Rabel with 19. She didn't register a single attack error the entire night, and hit .613. Hartman tied a career-high with nine kills and hit .261.
All-MIAA setter Searles dished out a game-high 40 assists and Felber led the defense with 26 digs.
The Thunder return to the court on Nov. 1 with a match against Alma College at 6:30 p.m. A win guarantees a spot in the four-team MIAA Tournament the following week. Carlee Felber will be honored on senior night. She's the only senior on Trine's roster.