ANGOLA, IND. -- The Trine University men's volleyball team came away with a split in a tri-match featuring St. Norbert (Wis.) College and Trinity Christian (Ill.) College at Hershey Hall in Angola, Ind.
The Thunder began the day with a matchup against St. Norbert and defeated the Green Knights, 3-1, by the scores of 25-14, 23-15, 25-20 and 25-19.
Sophomore Kyle Dixon (Lockport, Ill./Lockport Twp.) led all teams in kills with 15 and had a .323 attack percentage. Freshman Parker Beale (Noblesville, Ind./Fishers) also finished in double digits in kills with 11. Senior Hunter Monday (Beech Grove, Ind./Lutheran) had 35 set assists to lead all players and also had four service aces to tie Dixon.
Monday also helped lead the defensive effort with a match-high 14 digs. Dixon, Beale and freshman Zack Flake (Derry, N.H./Pinkerton) each tallied a block to round out the defensive leaders.
Trine (3-4) took the lead for good in the first set with the score tied at 2-2 and to pulled away from there. Leading by three points, 10-7, the Thunder took control of the game with an 8-0 scoring run that included a pair of kills by Dixon and one by sophomore Dan Boren (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead). Trine went on to lead by as many as 11 points in the set which also included the final score of 25-14.
SNC scored the first three points of set number two, but Trine kept the game within reach and later battled back to lead by as many as three points multiple times with the last one being a 14-11 advantage following a kill by Beale. The difference in the set came with St. Norbert trailing by a point and then rattled off three straight scores to talke a two-point edge, 21-19. The two-point differential proved to be what the Knights needed as the visitors held onto the lead the rest of the way en route to a 25-23 final to tie the match at 1-1.
The Thunder got off to a quick start in the third set by scoring the first four points and had a six-point advantage after a kill by Beale that made it a 10-4 game. The Green Knights worked their way back to within a point, 11-10, until four straight points by Trine extended the margin to five points, 15-10, and maintained at least a two-point lead the rest of the way and posted a 25-20 victory ato take a 2-1 match lead.
With the score tied at 2-2 early in the fourth set, Trine put some distance between its opponent with four straight points that was aided by a kill by freshman Dominic Saenz (Wall Twp., N.J./Wall) and an ace by fellow freshman Chris Dargan (Manhattan, Ill./Lincoln Way West) and made the score, 6-2. The Thunder never looked back and didn't relinquish the lead on their way to the 25-19 set win the 3-1 overall match victory.
Against Trinity Christian, the two teams traded sets up until the fifth and deciding game in which the Trolls outlasted the Thunder to come away with a 3-2 win by the scores of 25-15, 22-25, 17-25, 25-22 and 21-19.
In Trine's victory in the second set, the Thunder led by six points thanks to a 5-0 run that saw kills by Boren, Beale and then an ace by Boren and made it a 12-6 game. Trinity Christian later came back to take a one-point lead, 17-16, before five unanswered Trine points put the Thunder ahead for good on their way to posting the 25-22 final.
After dropping the third set and falling behind in the overall match, 2-1, Trine trailed by a point, 10-9, when a kill by Saenz evened the score and sparked a 7-1 run to put the team ahead, 16-11. The Trolls pulled to within three points late, 24-21, but a kill by Dixon gave Trine the final point it needed for the 25-22 win to send the match into a final set.
Both teams played at a back-and-forth pace for the majority of the fifth set. Trine maintained a three-point margin, 11-8, but TCC rallied to even the score at 11-11 and neither team led by more than a couple of points the remainder of the game. Both squads remained tied at a 15-15 score and went a total of 10 extra points until back-to-back kills by the Trolls with the score tied at 19-19, gave the visitors the win in the set and the 3-2 overall match victory.
Four players finished in double figures in kills for Trine, led by Beale with 18. The duo of Dixon and Dargan both had 11 kills and Boren added 10 kills. Monday tallied 49 of the team's 62 assists and Dixon led the way in aces with three. Boren was a close second with a pair of aces.
Sophomore Eric Santiago-Garcia (San Juan, Puerto Rico/Glen Ridge) was one of four players with 10 or more digs with a team-high 16. Monday was second with 15 digs and Beall had 12 digs. Dixon completed the list with 11 digs. At the net, Bealle led the way in blocks with two solo stops.
Trine will next travel to Milwaukee, Wis. to take on the Milwaukee School of Engineering on Friday, Feb. 7 with a start time of 9 p.m. EST.
