ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University women's volleyball team forced the 14th ranked team in NCAA DIII, Hope College, to four sets inside Hershey Hall on Wednesday night in a 3-1 loss. The Thunder swung .256 in the second set victory 25-19.
After the loss, Trine drops to 10-9 overall and 2-4 in Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) play. The Flying Dutch are 16-4 and 4-1 in league play.
The first set did not start well for the Thunder as Hope notched eight of the first nine points. Jocelynn Nicholls had a pair of kills to limit the damage, but it was not enough as Trine was already down 18-7 at the first timeout. A few aces from Bethany Ulring and Kacie Van Kalker helped to keep the Thunder afloat for the time being, but the Flying Dutch would secure a 25-14 set win.
Cassidy Victor and Catherine Dobies recorded back-to-back kills to start set number two and the scoring would come more consistently in the second. Olivia Jolliffe tied the second at 10 with a kill that sparked a 7-0 run for the home team to put them up 16-10. Four straight by their opposition forced a timeout from head coach Jamie Wozniak, but it would be effective in thwarting the comeback attempt by Hope. Setter Joslynn Battle found Jolliffe for the match-sealing point at 25-20. Trine had a match-high 13 kills in the second.
Hope would put their foot back on the gas in the third after scoring seven of eight to begin play with three blocks. An ace mid-set by Kailee Cornell cut the deficit down to four at 12-8, but the Thunder were outscored 13-6 from there in a 25-14 defeat.
Set number four had a promising start for Trine as the team used a five-point scoring run to claim a 10-8 advantage and the lead would grow off a Flying Dutch error to 17-14, but an 11-3 scoring run by Hope put an end to the attempted rally by the Thunder.
Nicholls was the team leader offensively with eight kills and chipped in on three blocks that led to a team-high 9.5 points. Battle distributed 16 assists to her teammates while Rachel Campbell and Jolliffe were in double figures on the defensive unit with 10 digs apiece.
On Saturday, October 15, Trine takes a break from MIAA competition to square off with the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Action at Hershey Hall begins at 3 pm.