SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Trine University women's volleyball team dropped their Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) contest to Saint Mary's College on Friday evening by a score of 3-1. After suffering a loss in the first set, the Thunder rallied to a dominant set two victory. A closely contested set three went to the Belles before the home squad pulled away to the match win in the fourth.
Trine is now 8-10 overall and 1-4 in conference action. Saint Mary's picks up their fifth win of the season at 5-10 and are 1-4 in MIAA competition.
The teams went back-and-forth in the first with four total kills by Olivia Jolliffe in the set. Trailing 18-15, the Thunder were forced to use a timeout to try to shift momentum. Trine would inch closer thanks to a pair of kills by Catherine Dobies, however the Belles would secure the set one win by a tally of 25-22.
Service aces by Lindsey Call and Anna Zellers helped put the team in front in set two 14-8 before Saint Mary's used a timeout. The team had a match-high kill percentage of .360 in the 25-15 victory with 12 kills and three errors, the last one coming off the hands of Meara Finnegan.
The third set required extra points to figure out a winner, with the Belles eventually getting the win, 30-28. Francesca Queary helped pace the offense that claimed a 14-11 advantage and the Thunder would go up by as many as five late in the third at 22-17, but the feisty Saint Mary's team did not relent and scored four in a row to get back to even at 23-23.
From there, the teams traded points to keep the third alive. Trine took a 28-27 lead before three straight points by the Belles gave them the lead two sets to one.
Saint Mary's used that momentum to bury the Thunder in the fourth set to take a 19-9 advantage. A timeout seemed to give the team some life as they rallied all the way back to within two at 24-22 Belles thanks to a combined block by Finnegan and Cassidy Victor, but Saint Mary's had built just enough of a gap to hold off the charging visitors, 25-22.
In total, Queary (12) and Dobies (11) led the way on offense with Call (21) and Zellers (17) splitting assists. Rachel Campbell dug up a team-high 20 opposing attacks. Finnegan tied her career-best with seven block assists on the night.
Trine is right back at it tomorrow evening in non-conference action as the team takes on Augustana University and North Central College at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. CST (5 p.m. and 7 p.m. EST).