SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – The Trine University men's volleyball team split in a tri-match on Sunday afternoon at Wittenberg University. The Thunder (6-9) were defeated by Marian University (16-3) in straight sets and bested the host institution, Wittenberg (8-10) by a score of 3-1.
Against Wittenberg, Ted Hofmeister [Powell, Ohio / Saint Charles] tied the school record with 26 kills.
TRINE vs MARIAN:
The Sabres opened up set one with a 13-6 lead, but Hofmeister, Kyle Dixon [Lockport, Ill. / Lockport Township] and Matt Stillman [Mokena, Ill. / Lincoln Way Central] led the charge offensively that cut the lead down to two. Unfortunately, Marian scored eight of the final 11 points to take the first set 25-18.
A slow start in the second set doomed the Thunder as well. Trine fell behind 9-2 before head coach William Dowdy was forced to take a timeout. Kevin Boncaro [Rochester, N.Y. / Rush Henrietta], Carter Steffgen [Lockport, Ill. / Lockport Township] and Sam Buckingham [Saginaw, Mich. / Nouvel Catholic Central] helped to cut into the lead, but Trine was unable to keep pace in a 25-16 loss in the second.
The Thunder were able to take advantage of early errors by the Sabres, but still Marian was able to get ahead 9-5 in the third. Ethan Howard [South Whitley, Ind. / Witko] set up Hofmeister for a pair of kills and Daniel Boren [Fort Wayne, Ind. / Homestead] got in on the scoring to lower the deficit. A timeout by Trine down 19-15 was ineffective in stopping Marian as they completed the match sweep with a 25-19 set three win.
Hofmeister led the team with nine kills on offense. At the setter spot, Howard had 18 assists and Ryan McDonald [New Lenox, Ill. / Lincoln Way West] set up nine attackers for points. Hunter Haas [Cincinnati, Ohio / Bishop Moeller] had 14 digs from the back row and Boncaro contributed with eight digs.
TRINE vs WITTENBERG:
The Thunder wrapped up the afternoon with a match at Wittenberg, who is in the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League (MCVL) school as well, but this was a non-conference match.
The teams went even through the first 18 points of the match, and slowly but surely, Trine began to pull away. Hofmeister had four kills in a 6-1 scoring run that resulted in the first timeout called by the Tigers at 16-13. Landon Barrow [Noblesville, Ind. / Noblesville] sparked a 9-2 run, including the final six points of the set, for the Thunder in a 25-16 set one victory.
A huge scoring run of 13-6 in favor of Wittenberg allowed the Tigers to run away with set two 25-19. Trine had eight errors in the set, the most in any set of the match and uncharacteristic of the rest of the match after securing 15 kills to just two errors in the first.
The third and fourth sets would look more like the first for the Thunder as they claimed both for the four-set win. A Steffgen service ace at 7-4 seized the momentum of the match as Wittenberg took a timeout. Buckingham made his presence felt offensively with three key kills to extend the lead mid-set. A Stillman kill gave Trine their largest lead of the set at 20-11, and Howard found Steffgen for the final kill of a 25-18 set three win.
Six kills out of seven Thunder points made it 7-2 in the fourth and once again, it was the Tigers taking the set's first timeout. Jonah Lockard [Wheaton, Ill. / Wheaton North] gave Trine an eight-point edge at 16-8. Buckingham and Hofmeister continued to flex their muscles at the net with a flurry of kills late in a 25-17 set win to claim the match 3-1. Trine wrapped up the match by hitting .355 and .333 in the final two sets.
As a team, 59 kills and 69 digs are the most in either category for a four-set match in program history. Hofmeister led the way with 26 kills in total, and Buckingham was also in double figures at 10. Hofmeister hit .561 in 41 attempts while Buckingham scored his 10 kills in just 13 tries (.615 kill percentage). Howard had 50 assists, one off the record mark in a four-set match. Haas (19), Hofmeister (16) and Howard (10) led the team defensively with double digit digs.
Next on the schedule for Trine is a conference match at Adrian College on Friday, March 4 at 7 pm.
