GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.-- No. 5 Calvin snapped Trine's six-match winning-streak, defeating the Thunder 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-18) Saturday afternoon at Van Noord Arena.
The Knights held the Thunder to an .049 hitting percentage, while hitting at a .193 clip themselves. Laura Danhoff hit .476 on her way to a match-high 13 kills to lead Calvin. Maggie Kamp added 10 kills and 11 digs to notch the double-double. Taylor Rabel (Muncie, Ind./Muncie Central) led Trine with her sixth double-double of the season, notching 12 kills to go along with 12 digs. Trine not only saw their six-match winning-streak end, but their school-record 15-set winning-streak snapped. The Thunder fall to 13-3 overall and 6-3 in the MIAA. Calvin improves to 17-3 overall and 9-1 in conference play.
Lauren Verkamp (Franklin, Ind./Franklin Community) notched a team-high 13 digs for the Thunder. Carly Searles (Levering, Mich./Petoskey) filled the stat sheet with five kills, 27 assists and eight digs.
Libero Elise Biesboer paced the Calvin defensive effort with a match-high 20 digs. Jenna Lodwyk set the Knight attack with 27 assists, and added eight digs and three kills. Rounding out Calvin's top performers was Kelly Bos, who notched seven kills.
The Knights outhit Trine by a .237 to .031 margin in the first set. An 11-1 surge turned a 10-8 Calvin lead into a 12-point advantage. That included a six-point run with Lodewyk holding serve. She notched two aces during that stretch.
The second set was much closer throughout, but the Knights pushed their lead to six on multiple occasions, and that proved too much for Trine to overcome. The Thunder pulled within 21-18 on a kill by Rabel, but a service error followed by an ace from Biesboer negated any Thunder momentum.
Calvin pulled away towards the end of the final set, outscoring Trine 7-3 to close out the set. The Knights hit .270 to .111 for the Thunder to close out the victory.
Trine returns to action this Wednesday, Oct. 8 when they host Kalamazoo at 7 p.m. in Hershey Hall.