ANGOLA, IND.-- Trine pushed the top-ranked team in the nation to four sets, but fell to Hope 3-1 (23-25, 25-13, 25-14, 25-23) Saturday afternoon in Hershey Hall.
Anna Lynch placed the Flying Dutch with 12 kills on a .269 hitting percentage. Jenna Grasmeyer and Amy VanderStoep added nine kills apiece. Taylor Rabel (Muncie, Ind./Muncie Central) led Trine with 13 kills, and added nine digs. The Thunder victory in the first set was just the fifth set Hope has lost all season. Two of those set losses have come at the hands of Trine. The Thunder fall to 20-4 overall, 9-4 in the MIAA. All four of Trine's losses have been to teams that are currently ranked in the top five in the nation. Hope remains perfect at 25-0 overall, 13-0 in conference matches.
Megan Verkamp (Franklin, Ind/Franklin Community) turned in a solid effort for Trine, with seven kills. Mikayla Carpenter (Huntington, Ind./Huntington North) notched a match-high 29 kills. Carly Searles (Levering, Mich./Petoskey) notched 25 assists, 14 digs and four kills.
The Flying Dutch outhit Trine by a .178 to .013 margin. Allie Mitchell notched a team-high 27 digs to help pace the defensive effort. Hope notched seven blocks with a strong presence at the net. They entered the match as the top-blocking team in the MIAA.
The Thunder came out strong in front of a charged Senior Day crowd to get the first-set victory. Trine took the lead for good on back-to-back aces by Lauren Verkamp (Franklin, Ind./Franklin Community), and four kills by Rabel helped pace a 10-4 start. Trine never trailed the rest of the set, and a kill by Megan Verkamp closed it out and put TU up 1-0.
The Dutch dominated the next two sets to take the lead in the match. Hope led by as many as 13 in the second set, and closed the third set on a 10-1 run. The Flying Dutch held Trine to a hitting percentage below .000 in each of the middle sets.
After trailing by as much as six, Trine rallied to make the final set close to the final points. A kill by Megan Verkamp knotted the score at 21-apiece, but Hope earned the next three points to put the Thunder in the hole facing match point. Back-to-back kills by Lauren and Megan Verkamp pulled Trine back within 24-23, but Grasmeyer put away the final kill to keep the Dutch undefeated.
Trine honored seniors Searles, Erin Lewis (Farmland, Ind./Winchester Community), and Breanna Arnold (Lombard, Ill./Glenbard East) prior to the final Saturday home match of their Thunder careers.
Trine returns to action this Wednesday, Oct. 22 when they travel to Alma. First serve is set for 6:30 p.m.