ANGOLA, IND.-- Trine needed the full five sets to earn a pair of exciting victories over Alma and Defiance in matches held Saturday at Hershey Hall.
Trine won the first two sets against Alma, but the Scots were able to rally back to force the deciding fifth set. The Thunder were able to put their foot down when they needed to in earning the 3-2 victory (25-16, 25-18, 20-25, 19-25, 15-6). Trine dropped the first two sets to Defiance, and had to come all the way back for their second five-set victory of the day (19-25, 15-25, 25-11, 25-16, 15-9). Carly Searles (Levering, Mich./Petoskey) notched a pair of triple-doubles, racking up 28 kills, 90 assists and 22 digs while hitting at a blistering .474 clip over the two matches. The senior has five triple-doubles this season. Taylor Rabel (Muncie, Ind./Muncie Central) notched a pair of double-doubles, while Lauren Verkamp (Franklin, Ind./Franklin Community) added a double-double and narrowly missed another. Trine improved to 9-2 on the season with the performance.
Trine 3, Alma 2
A balanced overall offensive attack helped Trine withstand the Alma rally.
Rabel led the attack with 18 kills and 15 digs, while Searles filled the stat sheet with 11 kills, 41 assists and 11 digs. Verkamp notched 10 kills and 11 digs, adding four service aces to become the sixth Thunder player in the Division III-era to surpass 100-career aces. She now has 107 in her Trine career.
The Thunder dominated the first two sets, holding Alma to an attack percentage of -.103 in the first set. Mikayla Carpenter's (Huntington, Ind./Huntington North) 18 digs and Erin Lewis' (Farmland, Ind./Winchester Community) season-high 11 digs were key in the Thunder defensive effort in the match. The Thunder followed the solid defensive effort by outhitting the Scots by a .293-.083 margin in the second set.
The tables turned in the third and fourth sets however, as Alma hit .379 in the third set and .235 in the fourth. Hannah Guilford's 16 kills led the Scots in the match offensively, and she added 11 digs. Sasha Laykova added 11 kills, while Mary Dulzo notched 34 assists and 17 digs. A late four-point run in the fourth set extended the match to the deciding set.
Trine jumped all over Alma in the final set, scoring the first six points as Verkamp held serve. Verkamp notched a kill and a service ace during the hot start. Bridget Marlow (Trafalgar, Ind./Indian Creek) added a pair of key service aces later in the set as Trine closed the match out with a 15-6 victory.
Megan Verkamp (Franklin, Ind./Franklin Community) added eight kills for the Thunder. Laura Hartman (Laingsburg, Mich./Laingsburg) also made key contributions offensively with a season-high six kills.
Trine 3, Defiance 2
The Yellow Jackets came out firing on all cylinders to earn convincing wins in the first two sets and put the Thunder in a hole. Defiance hit .286 in the first set, and followed that up with a scalding .500 performance in the second.
Ari Mahaffey and Meredith Shank each notched 12 kills to lead the Jackets. Bree Anderson added 11 kills for DC.
Trine responded with a .500 hitting percentage of their own in the third set. The Thunder raced out to a 10-3 lead, and later added a seven-point run to begin the comeback. A hot 10-4 start paced the fourth set victory to extend the match to the deciding set.
The two teams traded the first 10 points, before a four-point Thunder run broke the final set open. Carpenter held serve, while Jennifer Vlasic (New Carlisle, Ohio/Tecumseh) came through with a pair of big kills. Defiance got no closer than three again as the Thunder closed out the comeback.
Vlasic and Olivia Deck (Lansing, Mich./Grand Ledge) provided a solid presence at the net to help spark the comeback. Deck was in on five block assists, and Thunder blockers consistently forced Defiance into second and third attack attempts during the final three sets. Vlasic added a season-high five kills, while Deck contributed eight kills to the offensive effort.
Searles hit .552 on her way to a 17-kill, 49-assist, 11-dig performance. Rabel notched a team-high 19 kills and added 11 digs. Lauren Verkamp notched 12 kills, nine digs and seven assists.
Trine returns to action Wednesday, Sept. 24 at Olivet. First serve is set for 6:30 p.m.