ASTON, PA. -- The Trine University men's volleyball team won its second straight match in straight sets with a 3-0 win against Neumann (Pa.) University in non-conference action in Aston, Pa.
Trine (6-15) began the first set with back-to-back kills by freshman Eric Santiago-Garcia (San Juan, Puerto Rico/Glen Ridge) and fellow freshman Kyle Dixon (Lockport, Ill./Lockport Twp.) to take an early 2-0 lead. The Thunder never trailed in the set and worked their way out to a 10-4 advantage after a kill by freshman Jackson Condrey (Spokane, Wash./Ferris). Trine continued to pull away and recorded its first double-digit lead at 22-12 as part of a 5-0 run to end the set and give the Thunder a 25-12 victory.
The second set would be closer between the two squads with Neumann (2-11) leading for the early half of the game. Trailing by two points, 12-10, Trine scored five straight points highlighted by consecutive service aces by freshman Dan Boren (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead) and a kill by Dixon that made the score, 15-12, in favor of the Thunder. Trine maintained the lead the rest of the way and posted a large lead of seven points, 24-17, on its way to winning by the final of 25-19. Five of the final six points for Trine were kills by Santiago-Garcia, including the final point that gave the Thunder a 2-0 match lead.
Neumann jumped out to an early 3-1 lead in the third set when a 5-1 scoring run by Trine put the Thunder out in front by the score of 6-4. The Thunder continued to increase their lead thanks to a series of runs en route to having a commanding 14-point margin, 24-10. The final point of the match came on a kill by freshman Josh Cook (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mariemont) that made the score 25-11 and gave Trine the 3-0 match win.
Santiago-Garcia ended the match with 12 kills to lead all players and was followed by Dixon and Condrey with six kills each. As a team, Trine finished with 26 assists led by junior Hunter Monday (Beech Grove, Ind./Lutheran) with 24.
Dixon, Monday, Santiago-Garcia, Condrey and Boren all had a pair of aces to round out the offensive leaders.
Dixon and freshman Blake Grosse (Belleville, Ill./Belleville Twp. West) both had a team-high six digs. Santiago-Garcia was next with five digs.
Up front, freshman Eric Reuther (Williamstown, N.J./Williamstown) had a match-high four total block with two solo and two assisted. Monday was second with a pair of block assists.
Trine will wrap-up its week of competition with a match against Stevenson (Md.) University tomorrow (Friday, Mar. 8) in Owings Mills, Md. The match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
