NEW YORK – The 21st-ranked Trinity volleyball team split its matches to open a road trip at New York University on Friday, defeating Smith College (MA) 3-2 before falling to #22 Ithaca College (NY) 3-1.
The Tigers (9-6) fell behind 2-0 after Smith won 26-24 and 25-14 in the first two sets. Trinity rallied for a 25-19 win in the third, then forced a fifth set with a 25-19 win in the fourth. In the deciding set, the Tigers took the early lead and then held on for the win in the end. Trinity scored the final two points to win 16-14 and clinch the match.
Against Ithaca, Trinity was edged 25-20 and 25-22 to once again fall behind 2-0. The Tigers kept the match alive with a 25-23 win in the third, but Ithaca was able to close out the match with a 25-20 win in the fourth.
Reagan Whatley (The Woodlands, Texas / The Woodlands) finished with double-doubles in both matches, finishing with 10 kills and 12 digs against Smith, then picking up a Trinity-best 18 kills to go with 14 digs against Ithaca. She also had just one error in 45 attempts against Ithaca, posting a .378 hitting percentage in the match.
Jozie Dhayer (Houston, Texas / Summer Creek) and
Kendall DeRivel (Westlake Village, Calif. / Viewpoint) both had solid days setting for the Tigers, with both collecting double-doubles in the opening match. Dhayer had 19 assists and 10 digs, while DeRivel led the team with 28 assists to go with 11 digs. Dhayer led the team with 26 assists in the second match, with DeRivel adding 19 more to her day's total.
Jenna Rodriguez (San Antonio, Texas / Antonian) led Trinity in digs in both matches, finishing with a total of 40 that included a daily high of 23 against Ithaca.
Maddie Fate (New York, N.Y. / Croton Harmon) finished with 11 total blocks on the day, along with 16 kills. She just missed a double-double against Smith with seven blocks and nine kills.
Match One - Trinity 3, Smith College 2
The first set got off to a quick 6-2 start by Smith, even extending their lead to 9-4, but the Tigers wanted to close the gap.
Connelley McWilliams (Austin, Texas / St. Michael's) started a huge 10-3 run and gave Trinity the lead, 14-11. However, Smith made a run of their own and condensed the lead to 1. Trinity grew their lead and were just three points away, but the Pioneers regained the lead and won set one 26-24.
Set two was another set of constant runs. Smith had a 4-2 lead, then Trinity tied it up, but the Pioneers scored six in a row and took a 13-6 lead. The Tigers sprinkled in points here and there but the Smith College lead was too great and they won set two, 25-14.
Fate got the Trinity train rolling in the third with a solo block and then the Tigers scored two more and went up three points. After trading points for a while, it was time for a run to go the way of the Tigers. After a service error, an 8-3 run by Trinity ensued and suddenly it was a 17-10 Trinity lead. Back-to-back kills by
Marissa Drange (Boerne, Texas / Champion) put the Tigers just five points away from a set victory. Smith made another great effort late, but
Taylor Starr (Southlake, Texas / Carroll) had two kills in a row and gave the Tigers the set 25-21.
The train was picking up speed as the Tigers exploded out the gate in set four, 9-2. Even after Smith scored a few, the Tigers were back on the attack, going up all the way to 16-9. Whatley killed two more balls into the floor and gave Trinity an 18-11 advantage. Fate and DeRivel, combined with a few errors from the Pioneers, put Trinity three points away from tying the match. Despite another good effort by Smith, McWilliams put the final ball away and sent the match into a fifth and final set.
In that final set, Trinity jumped in front with four straight points to take the race to 15 points. The lead was still four when Smith scored three in a row to make it 8-7. The Tigers scored the next two to stay in the lead, but Smith was not done and tied the match 10-10. Trinity never trailed, though the match was tied again at 11-all. The Tigers got within one point at 14-12 before Smith extended the match with two straight points of its own to tie things up again 14-14. Drange got a kill on an assist from DeRivel to get the Tigers to 15, then
Courtney Pope (New Braunfels, Texas / Canyon) and Fate finished things off with a block.
Match Two – Ithaca 3, Trinity 1
Trinity fell behind early in the opening set, but managed to rally back to a 7-7 tie, and then took its first lead at 11-10 just a few points later. Both teams traded leads and tied the game several times after that, and neither team led by more than two until Ithaca edged ahead 21-18 late. Trinity drew to a 22-20 deficit, but Ithaca closed out the win with three straight points.
The Tigers jumped in front early in the second, but Ithaca came back to tie things up and then took the lead with five unanswered points at 9-4. Trinity couldn't cut into the lead until late in the set when the Tigers used a 7-1 run to tie things up 22-22. Unfortunately, Ithaca broke up the rally with three straight points to once again close out the win.
The third set was back-and-forth nearly the entire way until Ithaca scored four of out five points to lead 22-19, setting themselves up for the sweep. Trinity had other plans, though, rattling off five unanswered scores to reach 24 points, and then clinched the set win two plays later.
Trinity scored the first four points of the fourth set, but Ithaca rallied to tie things up 13-13. Ithaca then scored six of seven during a pivotal stretch that gave them a 23-17 advantage. The Tigers scored three of the next four points as part of a last-ditch effort to keep the match going, but Ithaca got a kill to finish off the 3-1 win.
Up Next
Trinity will finish its road trip against this weekend's host, 20th-ranked NYU, at 10:30 a.m. (ET) on Saturday morning.
