No. 5 Tiger Volleyball will head to St. Louis, Missouri to play in the East-West Battle
 
The Tigers (3-0) have had a strong start to the 2024 season, with victories over SUNY-Cortland, East Texas Baptist, and St. Benedict. The standout player has been Mackenzie Logan (Calgary, Canada), who was named tournament MVP after racking up 54 kills on 121 attempts. Taylor Starr (Southlake, Texas) also had an impressive debut with 23 blocks, ranking 3rd nationally in total blocks. Jenna Rodriguez (San Antonio, Texas / Antonian) and Maddie Fate (New York, New York) both earned All-Tournament team honors. As a team, Trinity is ranked 3rd nationally in blocks per set (3.58) and total blocks (43).
 
SCAC Offensive Player of the Week - Mackenzie Logan
 
Mackenzie Logan is the first athlete to win the SCAC Offensive Player of the Week in 2023. This will be Logan's third SCAC Player of the Week nod of her career after winning the award twice last season. 
 
From The SCAC Press Release:
 
Logan, who earned tournament MVP honors at the Trinity Fall Classic, had 54 kills (4.50 per set) and totaled 63 points (5.3 points per set) as the eighth-ranked Tigers went 3-0 with victories over Cortland, East Texas Baptist and Saint Benedict. She hit .455 in the season-opening win against Cortland, and had a match-high 23 kills in the five-set victory over ETBU. For the weekend, the super senior hit .298 and also tied for the team lead with seven service aces.
 
AVCA Poll
 
In the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association poll, the Tigers are ranked 5th with 1,744 points. Juniata leads with 2,149 points, followed by Hope, NYU, and Johns Hopkins. Regional rival East Texas Baptist is ranked 25th, while SCAC rivals Southwestern and Colorado are receiving votes.
 
Preview - Weekend In St. Louis
 
The Tigers will play against Johns Hopkins at 10:30 AM and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 3:30 PM on September 6th. Then, they will play against host Washington-St. Louis at 10:30 AM on September 7th.
 
On the No. 4 Johns Hopkins Blue Jays: The Blue Jays will come into the tournament with a 2-1 overall record. The Jays swept William Paterson and Christopher Newport but were defeated by top-ranked Juniata 1-3. John Hopkins' spreads the ball around, as there are two hitters that top the team with 26 kills. Although she did not have an overwhelming amount of kills, senior middle blocker Brooklyn Pater had 15 total kills and hit at a .483 clip. Last time these top 10 teams played against each other, the Tigers came out on top in five sets to bring their all time record to 1-1 against the Blue Jays.
 
On the No. 9 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athenas: The 2023 SCIAC Champions are off to a 2-1 start this season. In their Pacific Coast Classic tournament, the Athenas swept Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and Wisconsin - River Falls. However, the Athenas fell to a Centre team 3-1. Although Centre went 21-9 last season, they went 0-5 against ranked teams. CMS has four hitters all with over 20 kills with senior right side hitter Brenna Bell leading the way with 24. Last time out, Trinity fell to Claremont 1-3 during the East-West Battle. The Tigers are 5-10 all time against CMS and 2-5 at neutral venues. 
 
On the No. 16 Washington-St. Louis Bears: WashU is 1-2 so far in the 2024 season. The Bears narrowly defeated Roe College, then dropped a five-set match to Hope, and were swept against Northwestern. Senior middle blocker Zoe Foster leads the team with 33 kills with a .272 hitting percentage. As a team, the Bears are hitting .210. Trinity has not played against WashU since 2019 and in that match the Tigers were toppled by the Bears in five sets which moved the all time record to 2-16. 
 
Looking Ahead
 
The Tigers will host the 2024 Trinity National Invitational on September 13th and 14th. They will play against Endicott, Covenant, and Eastern.