SEGUIN, Texas – The 15th-ranked Trinity volleyball team opened Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play with a 3-0 shutout victory over Texas Lutheran University on Friday evening.
The Tigers improved to 6-4 this season, securing the team's third consecutive victory with the 25-18, 25-13, 25-18 decision. Trinity piled up 45 kills as a team and hit an impressive .327 across more than 100 total attacks. The Tigers also recorded nine service aces and 7.0 team blocks in the match.
Marissa Drange (Boerne, Texas / Champion) and
Maddie Fate (New York, N.Y. / Croton Harmon) led the way on offense as both Tigers hit .500 or better. Drange led the team with 11 total kills, while Fate finished with eight kills and a .636 hitting percentage. Fate also had a team-leading three blocks, while Drange chipped in with six digs and a pair of service aces.
The setter duo of
Kendall DeRivel (Westlake Village, Calif. / Viewpoint) and
Jozie Dhayer (Houston, Texas / Summer Creek) finished with 38 assists in the game, with DeRivel edging her opponent by two assists and leading the team with three aces. Dhayer finished with eight digs and an ace of her own as well.
Libero
Annabelle Lanik (Sugar Land, Texas / St. John's) finished with a team-high 14 digs, but
Jenna Rodriguez (San Antonio, Texas / Antonian) was right on her heels with a 12-dig performance in the match.
Connelley McWilliams (Austin, Texas / St. Michael's) and
Taylor Starr (Southlake, Texas / Carroll) added two blocks each for the Tigers.
The Rundown
Though the Tigers snagged the first point of the opening set, it was the Bulldogs who held the advantage in the early going. Texas Lutheran led by as many as four points (8-4) before Trinity rattled off five straight points – including two kills by Fate – to take the lead. Trinity never trailed again in the set, but TLU was able to keep pace and trailed by just two (12-14) a few moments later. The Tigers scored five of the next six points to push the lead to 19-13, aided by back-to-back kills from
Courtney Pope (New Braunfels, Texas / Canyon). Texas Lutheran never recovered from that run and Fate added two more kills down the stretch to finish off the win, including the clincher.
Logan fueled Trinity's early run in the second set, picking up three kills to push her team to a 9-3 lead. DeRivel also fired two aces in a stretch of four straight Tiger points to contribute to that lead. Drange owned the middle part of the set, firing four kills during a 5-1 scoring run that gave Trinity a commanding 16-5 lead. The Tigers led 21-10 several points later when TLU tried to rally with three straight points, but Trinity responded by finishing the match with four straight scores of its own, and Fate once again clinched the win with a kill.
The third set began with a strong push by TLU to take an early 5-2 lead, but Logan followed her second kill of the set with back-to-back aces to tie things up 5-5. Trinity was able to edge in front by three points, but the Bulldogs fought back to reclaim the lead at 13-12. The teams essentially traded points and were tied 17-all as the set neared its end. The Tigers broke the tie with another kill from Fate, sparking a run of seven straight points. McWilliams had two kills and a block among the final six Trinity points, capped by her match-clinching kill. Dhayer served Trinity to the victory as well during that run of unanswered points, adding three assists, an ace, and a kill.
Up Next
Trinity will head to Georgetown, Texas, to face off against Southwestern University at 12:00 p.m. in continued SCAC action. The Tigers are beginning a stretch of 10 straight matches away from home and will also continue conference play next weekend.
