OLIVET, Mich. – With their victory on Friday night, the Trine University women's volleyball team clinched a spot in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Tournament. The Thunder defeated The University of Olivet by a score of 3-1.
Trine finishes the regular season with a record of 11-14 overall while Olivet is 12-13. Both teams finished 3-5 in the conference season and the win puts the Thunder ahead of the Comets for seeding purposes. The teams await the rest of the conference results on Saturday to determine who each will face in the postseason.
Trine trailed early in the first set before four straight Thunder points gave the visitors the lead at 15-13. Madison Dominick had one of her 11 kills on the night during that spree. The team would not relinquish the lead from there as Trine pulled away to a 25-18 set one win. Dominick would add four more kills after that to pace squad.
Set two required extra points as the Thunder notched their second victory of the day, 27-25. Olivet once again took the lead at the beginning of the set at 13-10, but Trine was able to remain in the fight. Down 20-18, the Thunder rattled off five in a row to get ahead 23-20. Aleena Keh, Meara Finnegan and Francesca Queary all had points during the run. The job was not done there, however as the Comets drew even at 24-24 and 25-25. A kill by Cassidy Victor followed by a block from Queary and Victor would be the final two points the Thunder needed to go up 2-0.
Set three went to the host institution by a tally of 25-22. Both teams had their best hitting percentages of the night in the third set, but it was Olivet who had 15 kills overall to stay alive. Just as previously, the Comets were ahead early, but this time utilized an effective timeout before the Thunder could make their comeback and were able to stay in front to force a fourth set.
Trine was finally able to start on the right foot in the fourth set and led from wire-to-wire, 25-21. An ace by Rachel Campbell forced Olivet to use a timeout while trailing 9-5 in the set and their second break came at 20-11 following a kill by Anna Loughrey. The Thunder had a bit of a scare late as the Comets staged an unlikely comeback, but ultimately fell short.
Trine hit .217 for the match, the best hitting percentage in the conference season. The team had 52 kills, most of them coming from Victor with 12. Lindsey Call (24) and Anna Zellers (23) were evenly divided in assist numbers. Campbell (15) and Catherine Dobies (11) were in double figures in digs and Queary chipped in on eight of the team's 11 total blocks defensively.
The MIAA Tournament First Round match takes place on Tuesday, November 7. Stay up to date for details on that match on www.trinethunder.com.
