GEORGETOWN, Texas – The 18th-ranked Trinity volleyball team defeated the University of Dallas 3-1 in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference matchup to open the final weekend of the regular season.
After the Tigers won the first two sets 25-22 and 25-17, Dallas avoided the sweep with a 25-23 win in the third. Trinity finished the match with a convincing 25-8 win in the fourth to finish off its first day of action at the weekend event.
There were 18 Trinity Tigers that played in the match, with
Kendall DeRivel (Westlake Village, Calif. / Viewpoint) leading the way with her double-double of 18 assists and 12 digs.
Jozie Dhayer (Houston, Texas / Summer Creek) paced the setting duo by a narrow margin with 19 assists, adding seven digs to her stat line.
Mackenzie Logan (Calgary, Canada / Bishop Carroll) was the top offensive threat as she finished with a team-best 12 kills.
Reagan Whatley (The Woodlands, Texas / The Woodlands) just missed reaching double figures with nine kills, while also leading the team with three service aces.
Maddie Fate (New York, N.Y. / Croton Harmon) led a strong unit in the middle with four blocks, adding five kills and a .500 hitting percentage.
Courtney Pope (New Braunfels, Texas / Canyon) and
Taylor Starr (Southlake, Texas / Carroll) chipped in with three blocks each, and Pope also had six kills to go with her .600 hitting percentage.
Annabelle Lanik (Sugar Land, Texas / St. John's) led the team with 18 digs in the match, with
Marissa Drange (Boerne, Texas / Champion) finished with 10 digs to give the Tigers three players in double figures.
The Rundown
The two teams opened the first set by exchanging points until Dallas edged in front with three straight scores to take a 5-2 lead. The Crusaders kept pace with Trinity after that initial run as well and neither team led by more than three points the entire way. The Tigers tied the game 18-18 late but Dallas answered back to take a 20-18 lead. Trinity then wrestled control away from the Crusaders with four unanswered points that included back-to-back kills from Fate. Dallas called timeout to slow the momentum, but the Tigers were relentless by scoring three of the final four on two more kills by Fate to close out the win. Trinity scored seven of the final nine points on four kills by Fate to take the 25-22 win.
Trinity jumped in front early in the second set by scoring nine of the first 11 points, which included a string of six straight scores at one point during the streak. Dallas threatened with four straight points of its own, but Trinity shrugged it off and took a 15-7 lead. The teams began trading points after that and Dallas had the lead down to just six (18-12) when the Tigers surged to a 23-14 lead. Despite Dallas scoring three straight after that, Trinity finished off the win to take the 2-0 lead in the match.
The third set was marked by an early Dallas run that put the Crusaders in front 9-4. Trinity rallied to tie things up 12-12 and then fought back again to take a slim lead at 17-16. The Tigers still led by a point a few minutes later, but Dallas scored four straight to take a 22-19 lead. Despite tying the game 22-22 and again at 23-23, the Crusaders avoided the sweep by scoring the final two points.
That momentum seemed to carry over into the fourth as Dallas scored the first two points, but Trinity made an undeniable statement to take control of the match. The Tigers followed their first 9-0 run with another 9-0 run to run the score up to 18-3. Whatley served for the first portion and collected three aces among the nine points. The second spurt featured three kills from Logan to bury any chance of Dallas rallying to force another set. The teams essentially traded points the rest of the way, but Trinity's lead was too much in the end.
Up Next
The Tigers will finish off the regular season by facing off against McMurry University (TX) and Centenary College (LA) tomorrow. Trinity takes on McMurry at 11:00 a.m., followed by a 2:00 p.m. matchup with Centenary.
