NOTRE DAME, Ind. - In a comeback for the ages, the Trine University volleyball team rallied from down 0-2 to hand Saint Mary's College their second conference loss 3-2 (20-25, 19-25, 25-18, 25-22, 21-19). The victory gives the Thunder their first in the conference season moving their MIAA record to 1-3 and their overall record to 6-8 on the year.

In the opening set, the Thunder jumped out to a 6-0 lead, but were unable to hold onto as the Belles closed the set out on a 10-5 advantage.

The Thunder led just once in the second holding a 3-2 advantage before Saint Mary's took the lead for good to go up 11-7. Trine pulled within three points late at 19-16, but the Belles would again go on a 6-3 run to close out the set.

Trine finally got things going in the third as they jumped out to a 5-1 lead and never looked back. The Belles would close the gap to 11-6, but Trine refused to let them back in pushing their lead to 10 points at 21-11 before closing things out.

It was Saint Mary's jumping out to the early lead in the fourth set, but this time it would be the Thunder rallying back. Trailing 5-1, the Thunder battled back to tie things at 8-8. After the Belles scored the next two points, Trine would go on a 7-1 run to take the lead 16-12 but Saint Mary's would rally with five straight points to retake the lead. The two sides would trade points as things were tied at 21 all. Trine would finally put the set away as they took four of the final five points to force the decisive fifth set.

The winner-take-all fifth set was a battle right to the very end as it took extra points to decide the outcome. The Thunder would take an early 3-1 lead, but the Belles fought back to take an 8-5 lead. Again though, the Thunder would make a comeback to tie it at 8-8. The two sides would exchange points until the Thunder had match point after an ace from sophomore Lauren Verkamp (Franklin, Ind./Franklin Community). The Belles would stop the Trine rally, but Trine would again have match point at 15-14.

The Belles would then rally for two match points of their own at 16-15 and 17-16. Trine would come back with their own rally for another pair of match points. With things tied at 19-19, The Thunder would get back-to-back kills from sophomore Olivia Deck (Lansing, Mich./Grand Ledge) and Lauren Verkamp to put the game away and give Trine a comeback for the ages.

Sophomore Taylor Rabel (Muncie, Ind./Muncie Central) finished the night with a game-high 25 kills and finished just a dig shy of a double-double. Lauren Verkamp finished with her second double-double of the season with 15 digs and 14 kills to go along with a team-high three aces. Twin sister Megan notched her first career double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs. Deck added six kills on the night and a team-high three blocks.

Junior Carly Searles (Levering, Mich./Petoskey) added her eighth double-double of the year dishing out a game-high 40 assists and making 14 digs while also putting down six kills. Senior Carlee Felber (Newman, Calif./Orestimba) added a team-high 17 digs on the night.

The 25 kills by Rabel is the 7th most in Trine history and the most since former player Betsy Irwin had 26 against Kalamazoo on Oct. 13, 2010.

The win marks the first time a Trine team has come back from being down 0-2 to win the match since defeating Otterbein on Sept. 18, 2009 when they won 3-2 (22-25,23-25,25-22,25-22,18-16).

Trine will now turn their attention to Adrian College when the Bulldogs come to Hershey Hall on Sept. 20 for a 6:30 p.m. match.