SAN ANTONIO – The 11th-ranked Trinity University volleyball team extended its winning streak to 14 consecutive matches on Tuesday night, defeating NAIA Our Lady of the Lake University 3-1 in Calgaard Gym.
Tonight's win for the Tigers (18-3) is also the sixth win in the last seven meetings against the Saints, with the lone loss in that time coming in 2016. OLLU falls to 12-10 this season with the loss. Trinity took the first two sets by scores of 25-18 and 25-21, then after the Saints won 25-15 in the third, the Tigers closed out the match with a 25-21 victory in the fourth.
Mackenzie Logan (Calgary, Canada / Bishop Carroll) narrowly missed a double-double with a team-best and new career-high 18 kills to go with nine digs.
Brette Thornton (Rockwall, Texas / Rockwall) finished with a .389 hitting percentage on 10 kills, while also tying for the team lead with five blocks.
Courtney Pope (New Braunfels, Texas / Canyon) also had five blocks, adding five digs and six kills to her stat line for the night.
Setters
Marisa Amarino (Calabasas, Calif. / Notre Dame Prep) and
Jozie Dhayer (Houston, Texas / Summer Creek) had 19 assists each to lead the Tiger team, and the duo also chipped in with 14 combined digs.
Jenna Rodriguez (San Antonio, Texas / Antonian) scored a team-best 16 digs, while
Reagan Whatley (The Woodlands, Texas / The Woodlands) finished with 11 digs of her own.
Nadia Kern (El Paso, Texas / Montwood) added eight digs and a Tiger-best three service aces.
Connelley McWilliams (Austin, Texas / St. Michael's) finished with eight kills and just one attack error for a .467 hitting percentage on the night. McWilliams had one of two solo blocks in the match for the Tigers, with Thornton having another one.
The Rundown
Trinity dropped the first two points of the opening set, but still led most of the game. Four straight Tiger points had that lead up to 11-6 early, and the Saints never really recovered. OLLU didn't score more than two consecutive points the entire first set and Trinity quickly took the 1-0 lead in the match.
OLLU came out strong in the second set by scoring four of the first five points, but Trinity erased that lead with a run of four consecutive points that included kills from three different Tiger players. The game stayed fairly close until the Saints rattled off three straight scores to widen their lead to four points at 14-10. Logan started a 5-0 run for Trinity with back-to-back kills, though, to briefly take the lead. After Our Lady of the Lake scored a pair to reclaim the lead, Trinity took command of the set by scoring seven of the next nine, and then held on to take the 2-0 lead.
The Tigers trailed much of the third set and a 5-1 spurt midway through the game put the Saints ahead 18-12. Any hopes of Trinity climbing back to earn the sweep were dashed when OLLU scored the final six points to make it a 2-1 advantage for the Tigers.
The fourth set started innocently enough as both teams traded points, but Trinity decided to win no matter what with an 8-0 run that put the home team ahead 9-1. Thornton had two kills and combined with Pope for three blocks during that stretch. Midway through the set, the Tigers answered four straight points by the Saints with three consecutive points of their own to lead 18-12. OLLU never got closer than that 15-12 margin the rest of the way as Trinity finished off the victory.
Up Next
Trinity will host a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Crossover Tournament on Friday and Saturday. The Tigers will face the University of St. Thomas, Southwestern University, and Texas Lutheran University over the two-day event.
