Kerrville, Texas – The 20th-ranked Trinity volleyball team continued Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play with a 3-0 shutout victory against Schreiner University on Friday evening.
 
The Tigers improved to 7-5 this season, securing the team's fourth sweep of the year. Trinity stocked up 39 kills as a team. The Tigers further noted 10 service aces and 7.0 team blocks in the match. Trinity also held Schreiner to a .069 hitting percentage.
 
Maddie Fate (New York, N.Y. / Croton Harmon) led the way offensively, hitting an average of .473. Marissa Drange (Boerne, Texas / Champion) and Fate collected 9 kills apiece, while Logan finished with eight. Courtney Pope (New Braunfels, Texas / Canyon) and Taylor Starr (Southlake, Texas / Carroll) led the Tigers with three blocks each, while Fate and Drange each contributed with two. Drange also 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 a grand total of 37 assists in the game.
 
Libero Annabelle Lanik (Sugar Land, Texas / St. John's) finished with 10 digs and Jenna Rodriguez (San Antonio, Texas / Antonian) was just ahead with a team-high 15-dig performance in the match.
 
The Rundown
 
Both sides fought hard to earn the first point of the opening set, but it was the Tigers who eventually succeeded. Trinity's fast start continued, taking them to 4-1 before the Neers' fought back. Trinity extended their lead with help from a leaping Logan, taking them to 8-3. 
Five straight points from the Tigers took them from an arm's reach ahead of Schreiner and into double figures. Drange helped push the margin further with three kills in four points to improve the Tigers' lead to 18-7. Schreiner rallied to recover, scoring three straight points to reduce the deficit to 19-11. The recovery came too late however, as the Tigers pounced on a Schreiner error to take the winning point of the set.
 
The Mountaineers got off to a good start in the second set, scoring two points in quick succession before Drange led the Tiger's response with a kill and block to even the score (2-2). The pendulum of momentum swung back and forth with the sides trading points before Trinity gained some traction with the help of an ace from Logan, stretching the lead to 15-10. Moments later, The Tigers were in attack mode, with Drange and Fate teaming up to get two kills each in four straight points. Towards the end of the second set, the Neers' refused to back down, minimizing the Tigers' lead to 24-19. Trinity responded with a powerful ace from Fate that the Mountaineers just couldn't handle. The Tigers took set two, 25-19. 
 
The third set began with a strong push by Schreiner to take an early 2-1 lead, but the Tigers pushed back and both sides traded points until the game was tied up 8-8. Schreiner was able to edge in front by two points (13-11), but the Tigers fought back to reclaim the lead (16-14) after an ace from Logan and two straight points from Reagan Whatley (The Woodlands, Texas/ The Woodlands). Schreiner stayed in the fight, stringing a few points together and took the lead back (20-19). The Tigers' responded with high intensity and an ace from Whatley brought them back into the driver's seat, and lead of the game. Pope and Starr continued this relentless pressure, making a decisive block to get within a point of victory. Logan finished off the tight third set with a vaulting kill to take the game, set and match. 
 
Up Next
 
Trinity will head to Austin, Texas, to face off against Concordia University at 2:00 p.m. in continued SCAC action.