Angola, Ind. — The Trine volleyball team split in home action on Saturday afternoon in Hershey Hall. The Thunder opened its trimatch with a win over Kalamazoo, 3-0, but lost a heartbreaking 3-2 match to Manchester.
Against the Hornets, Trine took an early lead in the first set. Kalamazoo would come within one at 15-14, but the Thunder outscored the Hornets 10-1 to seal the 25-15 victory.
Trine once again led early in the second set and never looked back cruising to a 25-17 win. The Thunder notched its first win of the season with a 25-21 victory in the third. Kalamazoo fell to 2-5, 1-2 MIAA in the loss.
Trine was led by Janaya Wilder (Decatur, Ind./Bellmont) with 13 kills. Sophomores Shannon Scott (Vicksburg, Mich./Vicksburg) and Morgan Harris (Crown Point, Ind./Merrillville) each added seven. Scott hit .583 in the win. The Thunder was led defensively by sophomore Rhylee Beshears (Gary, Ind./Hobart) with 14 digs; the defensive specialist also totaled a career-high five aces. Junior Madison Cook tallied 10 digs and added four aces.
Kalamazoo was led by Shelby Suseland with six kills while hitting .600. Sophie Spencer also had five kills. Dana DeVito had seven digs and two aces.
In its second match of the day, Trine took the first set, 25-17, but Manchester came back to take the second set 25-21. The Thunder won set three 25-19, but the Spartans rallied back to take set four, 26-24, to force a set five. Manchester sealed the win with a 15-11 victory in the fifth.
In the first set, the Thunder and the Spartans battled back and forth having a couple ties early on until Trine pulled away to keep a comfortable lead and to take the set.
In the second set, Trine and Manchester clashed until the very end. Trine had the lead until late in the set when Manchester went on a 9-0 run to take its first lead of the game and held the lead to take set two.
In the third set, Trine held an advantage early on over Manchester, but the Spartans contested the Thunder's lead when they came within in three late in the set. Trine was able to prevail to take set three despite having a close call with the Spartans.
In the fourth set Manchester was able to come out of the gate to take the quick lead over Trine. Late in set Trine was able to go on couple of short three point runs to tie it up forcing the set to go pass 25 points. Two Trine errors gave Manchester the fourth set win to send the match into the fifth.
The two teams traded leads back and fourth in the fifth and were tied 10 all. The Spartans went on a 5-1 run that sealed the win at 15-11.
The Thunder was led at the net by sophomores Scott and Harris who teamed up for career-high 10 block assists each. Harris also added a solo block. Scott also led the offense with 10 kills while hitting .348. Wilder added nine kills and Harris had seven. Samantha Ihrie (Kendalville, Ind/East Noble) had 22 assists for Trine.
The Spartans were led by Courtney Chowning with 13 kills and 14 digs. Chowning also added seven aces. Hannah Tevis hit .471 with nine kills. Anna Marie Lawrie led the defense with a match-high 16 digs.
The Thunder will return to action Wednesday, Sept. 14, when they travel to Alma for MIAA action. Match will start at 6:30 p.m.
Article courtesy Cody Konieczki, Trine University, Communications New Media '17
