ANGOLA, Ind. -- The Trine University women's volleyball team faced some adversity but returned home with a 3-2 victory over Alma College in a Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) action.
The Thunder started strong going on a 5-1 run to begin the opening set, they would go on to lead the set from beginning to end and came away with a 25-21 win.
The second set saw the Scots have the fast start as they built an 11-5 lead. They increased that lead to 17-9 later in the set and held a set-point opportunity at 24-20. But Trine responded going on a 6-1 run to get a chance at winning the set themselves at 26-25 and then another chance at 28-27. Alma then scored the final three points of the set to come up with a 30-28 win.
The third set started more evenly with the two teams ending up tied at 12-12. The Scots then took the next five points to build a 17-12 lead and would ride that lead to the 25-21 victory.
The fourth set was an even more tightly contested affair with ten ties in the set the final of which came at 17-17. At that time the Thunder went on a 6-0 run and then another 4-1 run to finish out the set with a 25-19 victory, knotting up the match at 2-2.
The decisive set was also a close affair until Trine built an 11-8 lead and finished off the set with a 15-11 victory to take the match 3-2.
Senior Madison Munger (Indianapolis, Ind. / Franklin Central) led the team with 21 kills in the contest, but classmate Sarah Toles (Kendallville, Ind. / East Noble) turned in the truly impressive performance of the day with 19 kills and a .425 hitting percentage.
Two Thunder finished the match with 20 digs, sophomore Paris Outwater (Bronson, Mich. / Bronson) and senior Jacqueline Baughman (Lake Orion, Mich. / Lutheran Northwest), with Munger coming in just behind with 18. Baughman also led the team with 53 assists.
The team improves to 7-2 overall and 3-2 in MIAA play following the victory. They are set to continue their season on Monday, April 12 with a match against Kalamazoo College. The road contest is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.