No. 11 Tiger Volleyball steps foot back in Calgaard Gymnasium for the 2024 Trinity National Invitational.
The Tigers (3-3) struggled in the East-West Battle in St. Louis, dropping all three matches in four sets.
Mackenzie Logan (Calgary, Canada / Bishop Carroll) led Trinity with 32 kills on the weekend.
Maddie Fate (New York, New York) was also consistent on the offensive end of the floor, collecting 10 kills at a .472 percentage against top-ranked teams. Fate was named to the East-West Battle All-Tournament Team.
AVCA Poll
In the national poll by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA), the Tigers are ranked 11th. Juniata and Hope stay in the top two spots. Johns Hopkins, Wisconsin-Whitewater, and Emory round out the top five. SCAC rival Southwestern jumps into the rankings in the 23rd spot while Colorado College is receiving votes.
Preview - Trinity National Invitational
The Tigers will play against Endicott on September 13th at 6:00 PM. Then, Trinity will come out the next day to play against Covenant at 11:00 AM and Eastern at 4:30 PM.
On the Endicott Gulls: The Gulls have started the season strongly with a 4-2 record. They began with a 4-0 streak but have since lost their last two matches to Colby College and nationally-ranked MIT. Sophomore outside hitter Hadley Helenbrook leads the Gulls with 109 kills and a .284 hitting percentage. Setter Hannah Maguire tops the team with 74 digs. However, the team struggles with blocking; the leader has just 18 blocks, while the next closest player has 9. In their only previous matchup in 2021, the Tigers narrowly defeated the Gulls in five sets.
On the Covenant Scots: After making a regional appearance last season, Covenant has started the current season with a 4-2 record. They began the season strong, dropping only three sets, but were swept in back-to-back matches against Centre and Transylvania. During those losses, senior middle hitter Hannah Mathis led the Scots' offense with 20 kills and a .362 hitting percentage. Defensively, the Scots have maintained a serve-receive percentage of .912 and averaged 15.17 digs per set. This will be the first time these two teams have faced each other in their storied histories.
On the Eastern Eagles: Eastern has had a strong start to the season with a 4-1 record. The Eagles swept both Susquehanna and Dickinson, and also defeated Wisconsin-Eau Claire in four sets and Franklin & Marshall in five sets. However, they recently lost a close five-set match to Haverford College. Junior outside hitter Hannah Pringle leads the Eagles with 72 total kills, while senior middle Logan Martin is close behind with 61 kills and a .317 hitting percentage. Defensively, Grace Casagrande ranks in the top 50 nationally for digs per set with an average of 5.30. The last time these two schools faced each other was in 2013, when the Tigers swept the Eagles, bringing their all-time record to 1-1.
Looking Ahead
The Tigers will start conference play on the road against Texas Lutheran and Southwestern.
