COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The third-ranked Trinity volleyball team finished off its first day of Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference action this season with a 3-0 win over Texas Lutheran University on Friday afternoon.

The Tigers (12-1, 2-0 SCAC) hit better than .500 in the first two sets to win with relative ease (25-11, 25-10), then rallied late to complete the sweep with a 25-21 win in the third. Trinity also swept St. Thomas earlier in the day at the weekend event, hosted by Colorado College. Next is a showdown between #3 Trinity and #4 Colorado College on Saturday, which will wrap up Trinity's play for the road trip.

The Rundown

The Tigers were on fire from the start in the opening set, beginning with three straight points and taking a 14-4 lead at the midway point. The lead was never back to single digits the rest of the way and the Tigers used a late 5-1 run to take control 22-8. That proved to be the final margin as the teams traded points down the stretch.

The second set was an even better start for Trinity, which won six of the first seven points to establish control immediately. The lead was still five points minutes later when the Tigers scored six unanswered points to pull way out in front. Texas Lutheran battled to within nine when Trinity had another 6-0 run to put the game out of reach at 21-6. The teams again switched off scoring at the end with Trinity finishing things off with three straight points.

The two teams were even to start the third set, but Texas Lutheran scored six of eight points early on to take a 9-5 lead. That lead got as high as six points for the Bulldogs, but Trinity used a 7-1 run to tie things up 14-14. Neither team led by more than a point until Texas Lutheran snagged a 20-18 advantage towards the end of the set. Trinity responded with two points to tie things up, then after a TLU point to inch ahead, the Tigers wrapped things up with five straight points to take the win.

Numbers to Note

Avery Tuggle (Cedar Creek, Texas / Cedar Creek) posted a solid double-double with 13 kills and 13 digs to lead the way for the Tigers. She also hit a red-hot .765 on 17 attempts, registering the seventh-highest single-match hitting percentage in school history. Speaking of history, Tuggle is now just five kills from tying for ninth on Trinity's career list. She also needs just five more digs to move into the #21 spot in that career category as well.

Marisa Amarino (Calabasas, Calif. / Notre Dame Prep) led the team to a .419 hitting percentage in the match, finishing with 27 kills to go with eight digs. She has now surpassed 1,000 assists in her career with the Tigers, joining teammate Alexis Acevedo (San Antonio, Texas / Incarnate Word HS) as the only active players on that list. Acevedo finished with 11 assists against TLU and recently passed 1,300 career assists.

Emma Funk (Pass Christian, Miss. / Our Lady Academy) led the team with four blocks to go with five kills, while Sarah Williammee (Denver, Colo. / East) had 10 kills and a .438 hitting percentage in the day's final match for the Tigers.

Annie Rose Leggett (Austin, Texas / Westwood) just missed a double-double with eight kills and nine digs, adding three blocks. Leggett moved up to 12th on the all-time list in digs, passing All-American Morgan Anderson (2000-03). She is also one of just eight players with 200 or more aces in a career, needing six more to move into the top five all-time.

Coach Speak

"Our Tigers came out with great intensity and played two solid matches today both offensively and defensively," said Head Coach Julie Jenkins. "Our right sides Flynn and Willi were on fire in our St Thomas match. Emma led our team in blocks with five. In our TLU match, our setters Marisa and Lexie led our team to a .419 hitting percentage.  Avery Tuggle had a career high .765 hitting % with no errors on 17 attempts. She led us in kills and digs in both matches."

Up Next

Trinity and Colorado College will face off for the first of two regular season meetings this season tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. (MDT). The two highly-ranked Tiger teams will also meet Saturday, October 23, at the SCAC Divisional in Kerrville, Texas.