ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University men's volleyball team went five sets in their 2023 season opener on Friday evening, but suffered a 3-2 loss at the hands of Marian University out of Wisconsin. The Sabres won the first two sets before the Thunder rallied for two set victories of their own. The fifth and final set, however, went to the visitors by a score of 15-12. Trine falls to 0-1 to start the season, while Marian begins on the right foot at 1-0.
Junior Matt Stillman had five solo blocks in the contest to set a new school record for most in a single match. He also tied the record with eight total blocks after chipping in on three more on Friday. The team tied the program record with 13 total blocks in the match.
The Thunder got ahead 11-6 thanks to a block by Stillman and freshman DJ Vinson in the first set, and once again got ahead by five at 21-15 before the Sabres were forced to call both timeouts. The second one would be effective, as the team was able to come from behind to sneak away with a set one win at 25-23 despite a zero hitting percentage.
The second set would be won wire-to-wire by Marian after jumping ahead 5-1 early in the set. Sophomore Kevin Boncaro and junior Ted Hofmeister paced the Trine offense with three kills apiece in the set, but it was not enough to outmatch the .300 hitting percentage by the Sabres in a 25-21 set.
The Thunder played their best volleyball in the third and fourth sets. Junior Sam Bhandal found Boncaro for a kill to go up 13-9 in the third set and force a timeout after a 6-2 scoring run. Stillman came out of the break with a solo block, the first of four he would have in the set. A Bhandal ace gave the team their largest lead of the set, but head coach Will Dowdy would need a timeout to finish the job after four straight points from Marian. Trine finished the job with four of the final five points to win 25-20.
The teams would go back-and-forth in the fourth set, but ultimately the Thunder would come out on top. A pair of runs consisting of four straight points for Trine at 14-12 and 22-18 would aid the team in securing the win. Up 23-22, Hofmeister and junior Sam Buckingham had kills that punctuated the set and forced a deciding set number five.
The score would be tied at 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 5-5 6-6 and 7-7 as the teams tried to throw the final punch of the match. A block assist by Bhandal and Stillman put the Thunder ahead 9-7, but a timeout swung all the momentum Marian's way. The Sabres tallied eight of the final eleven points to cap a 15-12 final frame.
Boncaro and Hofmeister split the offensive load evenly with 17 kills each. That ties Boncaro's career-high. Bhandal distributed 48 assists in his first career match as the primary setter. The team had 56 kills across the five sets. Freshman Johnson-Kuhao Ho'okano-Pelekai was errorless in 12 attempts with four kills and had seven digs from the back row.
Four different student-athletes had double-digit digs, including junior Hunter Haas with a team-high 17. Boncaro (14), Bhandal (13) and Hofmeister (12) were the others. In total, the team had 75 digs, which is the second-highest total in program history for a single match.
Up next, Trine hits the road to compete in a tri-match at Benedictine University on Saturday, January 28.
