SANDUSKY, Ohio – On day one of the Great Lakes Region Crossover event held at Cedar Point, the Trine University women's volleyball dropped a pair of matches to open the 2023 season. The Thunder lost to Case Western Reserve University 3-0 and to Suffolk University by the same count.
Trine falls to 0-2 to start the season, but has a chance to redeem themselves tomorrow morning, Saturday, September 2 against Bethany College (8 a.m.) and Allegheny College (12 p.m.). Case Western Reserve begins their year with a 2-0 record, while Suffolk is 1-1 overall after day one of the event.
TRINE vs CWRU RECAP:
The Thunder got ahead early in the first set thanks to sophomore Anna Zellers finding senior Meara Finnegan for the season's first point, but the Spartans would regain control quickly and put Trine away 25-11 in the first set.
Junior Rachel Campbell had a string of service aces to keep the Thunder within striking distance in the second set, but to no avail. Trine had a lead at 17-16, but nine of the next ten points went to CWRU for the 25-18 set win.
In the third, junior Madison Dominick and senior Olivia Jolliffe helped build a 3-0 lead for the squad, and two more aces by Campbell made it 7-4 Thunder. A 5-0 scoring run by the Spartans would give them the lead and they did not look back from there. CWRU would go on to complete the sweep by a tally of 25-14.
Trine was limited to a .011% kill percentage led by Dominick with four kills. In the back row, Campbell collected a team-high seven digs and junior Catherine Dobies was one back with six. Junior Kacie Van Kalker had three digs in the match to give her 500 for her career.
TRINE vs SUFFOLK RECAP:
The second match of the day for the Thunder was much more competitive, however the same result would send the team home without a set win. Suffolk was able to record a 25-15 first set victory thanks to 13 kills and two errors. A kill by junior Cassidy Victor sparked a four-point scoring run to keep Trine within two at 10-8, but the Rams would extend their lead and pull away.
In set two, Jolliffe had a kill and a service ace to force Suffolk into an early timeout at 3-0 Trine. The score remained tight mid-set thanks to freshman Julia Maggio getting on the board with a kill, but at 15-14, the Rams took control. Suffolk was up 23-18 before a hard-charging Trine team forced extra points. Unfortunately, the Thunder were unable to secure the victory and fell behind 2-0 (28-26).
Jolliffe continued to dominate on the outside on her way to 12 total kills with three during a 5-1 scoring spree to take an 11-9 advantage. An ace by Van Kalker brought Trine to even at 18 all in the third set, but once again it was their opponents able to finish the job.
Along with Jolliffe's 12 kills, Victor contributed with six of her own. Zellers was responsible for 15 assists in the match. Offensively, Jolliffe also had five of the team's ten aces. Freshman Jordan Budzinski notched a team-best 12 digs from the back row.