SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – In the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League (MCVL) Semifinal Round, the three seed Trine University men's volleyball team secured a five-set victory over the two seed Baldwin Wallace University, avenging their regular season loss to the Yellow Jackets.
Trine moves on to the MCVL Tournament Championship Match on Saturday, April 13. They will face the MCVL Tournament hosts and number one seed Wittenberg University beginning at 3 p.m.
The victory marked the first postseason win under the program's NCAA Division III era and time inside the MCVL. "This is a senior and junior heavy team that has had a lot of individual success, but to see it all come together for a team win is awesome!" Head Coach Will Dowdy said post-match.
The Thunder dug out a season-high 72 opposing attacks to put themselves in position to win on Friday afternoon and move to 18-6. Hunter Haas and Ted Hofmeister recorded 19 apiece, a new career-high for Hofmeister, to lead the team while Kevin Boncaro (12) and Johnson-Kuhao Ho'okano-Pelekai (11) were also in double figures.
In total, Trine's defense was also responsible for 13 blocks. Karl Both broke his own school record when he was a part of 11 of them – eight block assists and three solo. Boncaro was involved in five blocks as well, all of them assists.
The trio of Boncaro, Hofmeister and Ho'okano-Pelekai had a majority of the 62 total kills, with Boncaro notching 22 to set a new season-high. Hofmeister added 15 and Ho'okano-Pelekai 10. Matt Stillman added nine kills on a .316 hitting percentage. Nick Woolley had 51 assists in the match.
A flurry of errors got the Thunder off on the wrong foot. Down 7-1, Trine would fight back and get back to even at 14-14. A late run from the Yellow Jackets allowed them to escape with a 25-23 victory in set one.
16 kills for the Thunder in both sets two and three allowed the team to take control of the match. Runs of five and six consecutive points for Trine made it 25-20 after a match-clinching kill by Boncaro in the second. The third set was more of the same, as Trine went wire-to-wire to claim the third set by a score of 25-22.
The Thunder netted the first five points of the fourth set with an ace by Stillman, but an 8-1 scoring run for Baldwin Wallace allowed them to get in front. Ho'okano-Pelekai's kill leveled the score at 19-19, but the Yellow Jackets would force a decisive set five with a 25-23 victory.
Woolley was distributing the ball well in the fifth, as Trine went up 6-2 following kills from Stillman, Both and Ho'okano-Pelekai. Baldwin Wallace got back to within one at 7-6, but Both was involved in three blocks that put the Thunder ahead 13-7. Trine would secure the final two points of the match to win 15-8 and continue the 2024 season.
