SAN ANTONIO – The 12th-ranked Tiger volleyball team opened up its part in the Trinity National Invitational Tournament with a 3-1 win over the University of Northwestern-St. Paul (MN) on Friday night in Calgaard Gymnasium.
Trinity improved its overall record to 6-1 this season, despite dropping the first set 26-24 to the Eagles (4-4). The Tigers were red-hot offensively in the second set, hitting an impressive .432 as a team to take the 25-17 victory. Trinity then finished with 25-21 wins in both the third and fourth to close out the match win.
Reagan Whatley (The Woodlands, Texas / The Woodlands) and
Jozie Dhayer (Houston, Texas / Summer Creek) both turned in solid double-doubles to lead the way for Trinity. Whatley finished with 14 kills and tied for the team lead with 15 digs, while Dhayer notched 22 assists to go with 10 digs.
Jenna Rodriguez (San Antonio, Texas / Antonian) tied Whatley for the team lead with 15 digs and also led the Tigers with three service aces.
Courtney Pope (New Braunfels, Texas / Canyon) finished with 15 digs and a stellar .440 hitting percentage, but it was first-year
Lily Long (Glenview, Ill. / New Trier) who led the team with 17 total kills on the night. She also added four blocks and seven digs to her stat line.
Lauren McCarthy (Corrales, N.M. / Horizon) tied her career-high with eight blocks to lead the way for Trinity's defense at the net, accounting for nearly half of the team's blocks.
Connelley McWilliams (Austin, Texas / St. Michael's) added nine kills and hit .421, while
Kendall DeRivel (Westlake Village, Calif. / Viewpoint) led the team with 28 assists.
The Rundown
The two teams were neck-and-neck in the early portion of the first set as neither team had a lead higher than three points until Northwestern put a small run together to make it a 16-12 game. Trinity rattled off four unanswered points, though, and the teams were tied once again. The Tigers never held the lead until another quick 4-0 run made it a 22-20 game late in the set. Whatley had a pair of kills and Rodriguez snagged one of her aces during that stretch that seemed to put the home team in control. Trinity had set point at 24-22, but couldn't quite close it out as the Eagles scored four straight of their own to squeeze out a win.
Pope had two kills early in the second set to set the tone, then Long scored back-to-back points to put Trinity up 7-3. Northwestern clawed its way back to within one, but Pope and Long had two kills each to drive the Tigers to a 13-8 advantage. Two quick points by the visitors couldn't slow Trinity down as the home team scored eight of the next 10 points to push the lead to 21-13. Pope, Long, and Whatley had two kills each during the stretch that essentially put the game out of reach. Though UNW cut the lead to five near the end, Trinity scored the final three points of the set to slam the door and tie things up 1-1.
Northwestern scored four of the first five points of the third set, but Trinity was back in it in a flash and the two teams went back to the alternating scores that defined the first set. The Tigers made the first big push trailing 12-11, scoring seven of the next eight points to take an 18-13 lead. The margin inched forward to 20-14 when UNW scored four of the next five points to cut it to a three-point game. Sensing a comeback, Trinity stopped the momentum as Long threw down a kill and then teamed up with McCarthy for a block to push it to a 23-18 advantage. Long also notched another kill to close out the set and push Trinity to the bring of the match win with a 2-1 lead.
Each team strung together small runs at the start of the fourth set, but Trinity's 5-0 spurt made it a 14-11 lead. That run was fueled by three straight blocks from McCarthy – two solo and an assisted block with Long again, and then DeRivel finished things off with a service ace. The Eagles rallied once again and carried that momentum into a 20-18 lead late in the set, making a bid to send the match to a fifth set. The Tigers were determined to close things out, though, and did so by scoring seven of the final eight points from that point on.
Taylor Starr (Southlake, Texas / Carroll) started the rally with a kill, then Long added two more – the second tied things up 21-21. Trinity then scored four straight to close out the evening, punctuated once again on a kill by Long.
Up Next
Trinity will close its weekend tournament with two matches tomorrow, kicking off day two with a matchup against Whitworth University (WA) at 11:00 a.m. The schedule-makers saved the best for last in this one as Trinity hosts 10th-ranked East Texas Baptist University at 5:00 p.m.
