ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University women's volleyball team split with Kalamazoo College and Manchester University on Saturday in the home opener at Hershey Hall on Saturday.
The Thunder picked up their first Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) victory in the opening game of the Thunder Tri-Match, 3-2 over the Hornets of Kalamazoo. In the closing match of the event, Trine fell to Manchester 3-2 after holding a two-set lead.
Between last night's matches and today, the Thunder competed in 20 sets of volleyball in just over 24 hours. Five straight matches have gone the distance for Trine women's volleyball.
The Thunder are 9-9 through 18 matches in 2021 with a 1-0 record in conference play.
TRINE vs KALAMAZOO RECAP:
In a kill-filled first set, Kalamazoo was able to outlast Trine 27-25 on the back of 19 team kills. The Thunder had 14 themselves, but were unable to finish the frame.
Chloe Behm [Albion, Ind. / Central Noble], Jocelynn Nicholls [Montgomery, Mich. / Camden-Frontier], Hannah Sands [Jonesville, Mich. / Jonesville] and Anna Loughrey [West Bloomfield, Mich. / Walled Lake Central] recorded kills in the opening minutes to give Trine a slight advantage, but a 6-0 Hornet run derailed momentum. Down 24-20, Behm notched two consecutive kills to start a five-point rally, but three errors from the Thunder allowed Kalamazoo to secure set one, 27-25.
Trine was red hot to start the second, with six kills and an 8-1 advantage. Two more 7-0 scoring runs allowed the Thunder to easily win set two 25-9. 15 kills compared to just one error allowed for a massive .538 hitting percentage. Jacqueline Baughman [Lake Orion, Mich. / Lutheran Northwest] served up three aces in the final four points to seal the set.
Sands began the third set with a kill, but it was back-and-forth throughout the opening points. Another string of service aces from Baughman and a massive solo block from Behm capped a 5-0 run that gave Trine a 12-9 lead. Samantha Carlin [Celina, Ohio / Celina] and Kailee Cornell [Lafayette, Ind. / McCutcheon] each joined in with aces en route to a 25-16 set three win.
The score was tied on 10 separate occasions in the fourth set, with Kalamazoo taking it to a fifth set with a 25-19 victory. The score was knotted up at 17 before the Hornets went on an 8-2 scoring spree to close it.
Trine closed the match by collecting the final five points in a 15-10 win, highlighted by kills from Loughrey and Olivia Jolliffe [Warren, Mich. / Cousino] and an ace from Rachel Campbell [Greenfield, Ind. / Greenfield Central].
It was a balanced attack offensively, with Jolliffe at 14 kills, Sands at 11 as well as Behm and Loughrey with 10 apiece. Baughman assisted on 52 of the 58 kills, a season-high for the senior. Baughman also had a career-best seven aces. As the libero, Carlin racked up 29 digs in the back row, a career-high for the freshman and she did not record an error on the 19 serves that went her way.
TRINE vs MANCHESTER RECAP:
Manchester rattled off four straight points to start the match, countered by Trine with three of their own. Jolliffe and Sands each had a kill and Behm and Francesca Queary [Midland, Mich. / H.H. Dow] combined for a big-time block. Jolliffe ended the 25-21 victory with her sixth kill of the set.
The Thunder took a 2-0 lead after a 25-16 set two triumph, where Trine totaled 15 kills in the frame. Queary, Nicholls and Mikaila Sullivan [Terre Haute, Ind. / Terre Haute South Vigo] all were credited with kills on a 6-1 run mid-period. Queary and Nicholls also contributed to a 6-1 run to end the second, with Cassidy Victor [Fraser, Mich. / Fraser] chipping in with an ace.
An 8-1 scoring run for the Spartans in the third was too much to overcome for the Thunder, as Manchester extended the match with a 25-18 victory in the third set.
Oddly enough, the set with the most kills for Trine was the fourth, with 18 of their 23 points coming by way of a Thunder strike. Jolliffe led the way with eight herself in the fourth, but once again, the Spartans would come away victorious in the set to make it 2-2.
The Thunder just ran out of gas in the fifth, as Manchester took a commanding 13-4 lead and finished the set 15-11 to complete the comeback.
A season-high 19 kills came off the hand of Jolliffe in the match, with Baughman accumulating 52 more assists, running her daily total to 104. Nicholls was a force at the net with six block assists and one solo in the match.
Up next, Trine returns to conference action with a home matchup versus Adrian College on Wednesday, September 29. First serve is at 6:30 pm at Hershey Hall.