SAN ANTONIO – The 21st-ranked Tiger volleyball team finished off another Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference weekend with a 3-1 win over Texas Lutheran University on Friday night, running the team's winning streak to six consecutive matches.
Trinity (15-6, 8-1) dropped the opening set 25-22, but roared back to tie the match with a 25-18 victory in the second. The third set was the closest of the night, but the Tigers prevailed 26-24 to take the lead. Trinity then closed out the match with a 25-21 win to earn a regular season sweep of the Bulldogs, after winning 3-0 to open SCAC play in September.
The Tigers finished the match with 125 digs as a team, which is the most in a match since the end of the 2013 season.
Jenna Rodriguez (San Antonio, Texas / Antonian) led the team with 34 of the digs, tying for the seventh-most in school history. Rodriguez, who broke the record last year with 39 digs in a match, is the first player in Trinity volleyball history with 34 or more digs in more than one match for a career.
Reagan Whatley (The Woodlands, Texas / The Woodlands) finished with a career-high 29 digs to go with her team-best four service aces. She also just missed a double-double with nine kills and contributed three blocks as well.
Annabelle Lanik (Sugar Land, Texas / St. John's) also set a new career-high with 26 digs of her own, giving Trinity three players with 25+ digs in the match.
Maddie Fate (New York, N.Y. / Croton Harmon) led the team with 13 kills and six blocks. After Trinity had just one team block in the opening set, Fate and the rest of the team turned up the pressure at the net and had 11 team blocks over the next three sets.
Connelley McWilliams (Austin, Texas / St. Michael's) tied her career-high with five blocks of her own in the match, while
Taylor Starr (Southlake, Texas / Carroll) also finished with five blocks. McWilliams also had 10 kills and a pair of digs, and Starr added five kills, five digs, and two aces.
Mackenzie Logan (Calgary, Canada / Bishop Carroll) also reached double figures with 11 kills in the match.
Kendall DeRivel (Westlake Village, Calif. / Viewpoint) notched a career-high of her own as she finished with a team-leading 32 assists, adding 15 digs to secure a double-double in the match.
Jozie Dhayer (Houston, Texas / Summer Creek) picked up 21 assists of her own and just missed a double-double with nine digs on the night.
The Rundown
The first set was a classic battle that saw 12 ties and six lead changes overall, and neither team led by more than three points the entire way. The Tigers scored three of four points midway through the set to take a 12-11 lead, but the Bulldogs scored three straight points of their own to go back in front. Texas Lutheran never trailed again and had the first three-point margin for either team at 20-17. Trinity did score three straight after that to tie things up 20-20, but TLU scored four of the next five and held on for the win. Rodriguez and Whatley had nine digs each and dished out 10 assists in the set.
The visitors carried their opening-set momentum into the second and led 7-4 early on when the Tigers called a quick timeout to reset. That proved to be an outstanding call as Trinity came out of the timeout with 14 unanswered points to take full control of the set with an 18-7 lead. After getting just one block in the opening set, the Tigers had five in the second – all of which came during the pivotal run. Fate had four block assists and two kills in that stretch, while Whatley had one block assist and back-to-back kills. McWilliams also had four blocks – three assists and a solo – to join the festivities. Texas Lutheran did score six of the next seven after breaking up Trinity's streak, dropping the lead to just 19-13, but that was as close as they got. The teams essentially traded points after that, with McWilliams finishing off the set with a kill. Lanik was also a key to the defense, compiling 11 digs in just the second set.
The third set was more like the first in that both teams were in it until the very end. There were 11 ties and four lead changes, and in the end, it was another block party for the Tigers that sealed the deal. Texas Lutheran had the advantage early with a 6-2 run that put them in front 7-4, but the Tigers pulled back in front with five unanswered points. Whatley and Starr combined for two blocks during that run, and Starr wound up with five block assists in the set – factoring in all five of the team blocks for Trinity. The lead went back-and-forth from there and the set was still tied 20-20 coming down the stretch. The Tigers scored three of the next four to make it a 23-21 lead, but Texas Lutheran came right back and tied it up at 23-all and again at 24-all. Starr clinched the set with two more blocks, combining with Logan and
Courtney Pope (New Braunfels, Texas / Canyon) to make it a 2-1 match lead for the Tigers. Rodriguez added 15 digs in the set, while Whatley posted another nine-dig set. Rodriguez, Whatley, and Lanik all had 20+ digs total by the end of the set.
The final set began with Texas Lutheran scoring three of the first four points and holding a 6-4 early lead, but Trinity used a quick 6-0 run to take the lead for good. Whatley had a pair of kills early in the run, then keyed another spurt a few moments later with back-to-back aces. Those came during four straight Trinity points, which were surrounded by two kills from Fate, and left Trinity leading 15-8. Texas Lutheran made a run of its own and closed the gap to just two points at 15-13. The Tigers eased in front by four, but the Bulldogs kept coming late in the set. The visitors drew to within one point at 21-20, but Trinity scored four of the final five to close out the win. Fate added two more kills and Whatley served up one more ace to help close things out, then Rodriguez put the finishing touches on the night with another Tiger ace to clinch the victory.
Up Next
The Tigers will be back at home against next weekend for three matches in Calgaard Gymnasium. Trinity hosts Southwestern University (TX) in another SCAC match on Friday, October 25, at 6:00 p.m. Saturday's matches will be a non-conference tilt against Randolph-Macon College (VA) at Noon, followed by another SCAC contest against Concordia University (TX) at 4:00 p.m.
