ADRIAN, Mich. – The Trine University women's volleyball team competed against Adrian College on Tuesday evening in the #4 versus #5 match in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Tournament First Round. The Thunder were unable to topple their opponents in the Bulldogs as Adrian advances on in the event with a 3-0 win.
The Adrian Bulldogs move on to face the top-seeded Hope College Flying Dutch on Friday in the MIAA Tournament Semifinals with a 13-11 record. The season comes to an end for the Trine Thunder at 11-15.
The match was tightly contested throughout, but none closer than set number one where neither team took more than a three-point advantage. The first three points of the night went to the Thunder thanks to Madison Dominick and Francesca Queary. The Bulldogs would return the favor with four in a row from there and the dogfight was on. Back-and-forth they went until Trine would once again rattle off three in a row to go up 19-16 on an ace by Olivia Jolliffe. Adrian would reclaim momentum late and overcome a pair of timeouts by the visitors to take the first set 25-22.
The Bulldogs jumped ahead early in the second and took a commanding 11-5 lead. The Thunder got back to within one at 15-14 when Lindsey Call found Cassidy Victor, but the home team would hold off their opponents and get all the way to set point at 24-20 without relinquishing the lead. Trine would not go quietly however with four consecutive points with their backs against the wall. Three straight kills by Dominick, Catherine Dobies and Meara Finnegan helped them get back to even at 24 all, but Adrian was able to finish off set two 26-24 with a block assist.
Once more, the Bulldogs claimed an early lead thanks to five points to begin the third set. The Thunder worked to dig themselves out of the hole, but another scoring onslaught by Adrian put them up 19-10. That would be enough to allow the Bulldogs to advance in the MIAA Tournament via a 25-17 win in the third set to secure the match victory.
Dominick was the only one in double figures with 10 kills in a balanced scoring attack for Trine. Anna Zellers led the charge with 15 assists. Four players had double-digit digs, with Rachel Campbell notching the most at 23. Jolliffe had 17 digs (season-high) with Dobies at 14 and Zellers 10.