ALBION, Mich.-- Trine's Taylor Rabel reached a career milestone, but it wasn't enough as the Thunder were defeated by Albion 25-19, 25-13, 19-25, 24-26, 15-9.
Rabel (Muncie, Ind./Muncie Central) became the fifth player in Thunder volleyball history to top 1,000-career kills with a 12-kill performance. Rabel now has 1,010 kills in her career, fourth in team history. Taylor Rosenthal notched 13 kills to lead the Britons, while Stephanie Thurner added 12 kills. Trine fell to 5-8 overall and 3-3 in the MIAA. Albion improved to 11-4 overall, 2-3 in conference play. The Britons had lost 10-straight to the Thunder prior to tonight's match.
Janaya Wilder (Decatur, Ind./Bellmont) notched a double-double for the Thunder with 12 kills and 14 digs. Wilder has notched two double-doubles this season. Mikayla Carpenter (Huntington, Ind./Huntington North) notched a match-high 28 digs to pace the defensive effort.
Lauren Verkamp (Franklin, Ind./Franklin Community) notched 11 digs to reach 900 career digs. She is the ninth player at Trine to accomplish that feat since 2004.
A slow start doomed the Thunder in set one as the Britons seized the first seven points. Trine was able to pull as close to one on several occasions, but each rally was answered by Albion. Emma Bowman (Corvallis, Ore./St. Joseph) provided an offensive spark with four kills for Trine.
Another slow start in set two proved too much for the Thunder to overcome. Albion raced out to an 11-2 lead in the set and held Trine to a hitting percentage below .000 on their way to the big victory.
An early kill in the third set put Rabel over 1,000 in her career to give Trine an early lead. Rabel came up big in the third set with six kills in the set. The Thunder hit .310 in the set, the team's best effort of the night.
The fourth set was tight throughout, with the Thunder making enough plays to win late. With the score 23-23, Shannon Scott (Vicksburg, Mich./Vicksburg) and Thurner traded kills to keep the score knotted. Bowman then came up with a big block that fell just inside the line, which Wilder followed with a kill to extend the set to the deciding fifth set.
Albion raced out to a 6-2 lead and led by as much as 10-3 to close out the match in the fifth set.
Trine will host Alma in MIAA-action tomorrow afternoon in Hershey Hall. First serve is set for 2 p.m.