WHEATON, Ill. – The Trine University women's volleyball team dropped back-to-back matches on Wednesday at Wheaton College in a tri-match with Calvin University as well.
Trine dropped the first match of the evening 3-0 to a fellow Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) opponent Calvin in non-conference competition. The Thunder were able to take a set from the host school Wheaton in the nightcap, but were defeated three sets to one.
MATCH ONE RECAP:
The number three ranked Knights jumped out to a 5-0 advantage to begin set one, but the Thunder regained the momentum and eventually tied the game up at eight. Three consecutive Trine points came via kills from Anna Loughrey [West Bloomfield, Mich. / Walled Lake Central], the last of which sparked a five-point swing.
Jillian Hannah [Bowling Green, Ohio / Elmwood] entered the match and immediately recorded a service ace. Later in the run, all-conference setter Jacqueline Baughman [Lake Orion, Mich. / Lutheran Northwest] got up and blocked a Calvin attack for a point, and freshman Francesca Queary [Midland, Mich. / H.H. Dow] notched her first career kill.
A five-point swing in the direction of the opponents dug a hole for the Thunder that they were unable to climb out of. Chloe Behm [Albion, Ind. / Central Noble] slammed one home off the set from her fellow senior Baughman to make it 19-15 Calvin, but that would unfortunately be the last point of the set for the Trine.
The national powerhouse kept their foot on the gas in the second set and took a 12-3 lead. Despite falling behind in the set, the Thunder were helped by aces from Behm and Samantha Carlin [Celina, Ohio / Celina] and accepted points on a bushel of Calvin misplays.
A pair of kills from Olivia Jolliffe [Warren, Mich. / Cousino] cut the deficit to 18-13 mid-set, however a string of aces by the Knights burned Trine en route to a second set loss 25-16.
Trine tried to make it a four-set match with Calvin as Baughman served up two aces in the early going and the Thunder took a 5-2 lead. A combination of kills from Jolliffe, Queary and Mikaila Sullivan [Terre Haute, Ind. / Terre Haute South Vigo] as well as Knight errors kept the game tied at 16, but from there Calvin put an exclamation point on the match and went on to win the third 25-19.
Jolliffe and Loughrey tied for the team lead with seven kills apiece and Baughman assisted on 19 of the team's 23 kills.
MATCH TWO RECAP:
Set one against Wheaton was a back-and-forth battle from the start, with Trine taking advantage of six errors in their first 10 points. Three aces in a 4-0 run took a tie game to a 14-10 Wheaton lead.
Jolliffe and Loughrey continued to be the primary offensive weapons for the Thunder, as they each threw down spikes and Baughman a service ace to keep Trine close. Another four-point swing for Wheaton forced a Trine timeout and the opponents eventually pulled away to a 25-19 victory.
Set two was the best of the night for the Thunder when they won 25-20. Jolliffe began the set with back-to-back kills and served up an ace later in the frame that gave Trine a 10-4 advantage. Five consecutive Wheaton errors made the Thunder lead insurmountable at 16-5 as the teams went head-to-head into the third.
Trine appeared to run out of gas as Wheaton jumped out to big leads in both the third and fourth sets. Wheaton cleaned up their mistakes in the first two sets with only a combined three errors in the final two sets.
Jolliffe was the lone Trine player in double digits in kills with 10 in game two of the night. Carlin dug out 12 attacks in the backrow for the Thunder.
Trine women's volleyball hits the road once again this weekend in the Sommer Center Spiketacular at Bluffton University on Friday, September 3 and Saturday, September 4.