GEORGETOWN, Texas - No. 3 Trinity University Volleyball notched its sixth victory over a nationally-ranked opponent for the 2021 campaign Sunday afternoon as it took down this weekend's host of Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference action, No. 16 Southwestern University, in five sets after knocking out Austin College in a sweep Sunday morning.

The Tigers (23-2, 10-0 SCAC) entered Sunday's SCAC play tied for their longest streak of regular-season conference victories over the last decade at 16 in-a-row. Following Sunday's victory, Trinity has won 18 consecutive SCAC regular-season contests. Trinity is also just one victory away from the third 11-0 start to league play over the last six seasons.

Junior libero Nadia Kern (El Paso, Texas / Montwood) set a new career-high with 30 digs in the Southwestern match as she and senior outside hitter Annie Rose Leggett (Austin, Texas / Westwood) each ended the day over the 30-dig mark.

Seniors outside hitter Avery Tuggle (Cedar Creek, Texas / Cedar Creek) and rightside hitter Sara Flynn (Seattle, Wash. / Roosevelt) each eclipsed 20 kills on the day as two of five different Tigers to log double-digits in the category over Sunday's pair.

Senior middle blocker Emma Funk (Pass Christian, Miss. / Our Lady) set a new career-best of nine blocks for a match against the Pirates as well to total 12 blocks for the day.

Junior setter Marisa Amarino (Calabasas, Calif. / Notre Dame) guided the Trinity offense with 52 assists on the Tigers' 100 kills for the day.

The third-ranked Tigers head to Kerrville, Texas next weekend for the final road weekend of the regular season, ending a road trip that started nearly a month ago.

Trinity 3, Austin 0

A .647 hitting percentage in the opening set of the day set an impressive tone toward Trinity's eighth SCAC sweep of the season. Amarino's efforts as the Tigers' signal-caller led to the .348 attack clip for the match and 23 assists for the third-year player.

For the second time in three matches sophomore outside hitter Mackenzie Logan (Calgary, Canada / Bishop Carroll) collected six kills all within one set. She led the Tigers past the best effort from the Kangaroos for a 25-21 score as she posted a pair of blocks along with her performance on the attack.

Flynn, Funk, and Leggett each logged three kills in the match's final frame to offer a balanced attack and cruise to the match-clinching 25-15 third-set tally. Leggett also collected seven of her match-high 15 digs in the third.

Trinity 3, Southwestern 2

Kern's new single-match career-high of 30 digs was pivotal to the Tigers' afternoon victory as the overall defensive effort for Trinity made the difference for the team's sixth victory over a nationally-ranked opponent this season. Funk's nine blocks, along with Flynn's six, helped push the Pirates down to just a .161 hitting percentage for the match.

In this weekend's true road contest for the Tigers, Southwestern was able to take the upper hand with a 15-3 stretch uncharacteristic for Trinity which led to the first-set victory for the Pirates backed by a supportive home crowd.

Trinity responded emphatically with a powerful 25-9 tally in the second frame. The Tigers blasted past the nation's 16th-ranked squad with a .469 hitting percentage for the second game as Flynn posted seven of her 10 kills in the match while Funk led the block with a trio of her eight.

The SCAC's most-anticipated match of the weekend settled into a barn-burner for the remainder of the action as both squads traded 25-20 victories, first for the host Pirates in the third frame followed by the Tigers' resurgence in the fourth to set up the first fifth set of the season in SCAC play for Trinity. Only three of the Tigers' 15 blocks in the match were logged during this period which led Trinity to lean on the receiving efforts of Kern and Leggett, who collected 12 and nine digs respectively.

The drama continued into the fifth as Trinity elected to operate in a trailing position on the scoreboard for much of the match-deciding set. In a 12-12 draw, the nation's third-ranked squad took over with three straight points between one kill each for Tuggle and Funk, along with a combo block from the duo.

Tuggle and Leggett logged their ninth and eight respective double-doubles this season in Sunday's finale. Tuggle logged a match-high 18 kills to go along with 13 digs while Leggett notched 10 kills and a season-high 23 digs. 

Coach Speak

"Another solid 4-0 weekend for our Tigers," Head Coach Julie Jenkins said. "Today's win over Southwestern was a big one, and our 6th win over a nationally ranked opponent this season. Amazing that 13 different players saw action in this 5-set win. All of our players did a terrific job of making adjustments and demanding more out of each other when our backs were against the wall. Emma and Emily's presence was definitely felt. Our setters Marisa and Lexi were spot on with their tempo and placement. Avery, in particular, was huge under pressure."

Up Next

No. 3 Trinity Volleyball heads to the campus of Schreiner University for the final road weekend of the 2021 regular season for a trio of second meetings in conference play with Texas Lutheran University and No. 7 Colorado College Saturday followed by University of St. Thomas Sunday morning. The weekend concludes with the first of back-to-back SCAC matchups with Schreiner.

The Tigers host their final two SCAC matches Saturday, October 30 against Schreiner and Southwestern before hosting the 2021 SCAC Championship tournament November 5-7.