SAN ANTONIO – The 20th-ranked Trinity University volleyball team opened its part in the Southern Athletic Association Tournament with a 3-0 sweep of Millsaps College (MS) on Thursday evening in Calgaard Gymnasium.
The #3 seed Tigers (21-8) won the Quarterfinals match 25-16, 25-10, 25-7 over the #6 seed Majors (17-12), shaking off a pair of regular season losses against Millsaps to advance in the tournament. Trinity hit better than .300 in all three games, capped by an outstanding .579 hitting percentage in the final set. The Tigers also held Millsaps to just .033 for the match and forced them into a negative percentage in the third game. Trinity led in numerous categories, with a 15-1 margin in service aces being the most lopsided.
Kendall DeRivel (Westlake Village, Calif. / Viewpoint) had an outstanding night for the Tigers, recording a team-leading 17 assists to go with seven digs and a match-high seven aces. Her seven aces are a team season high for 2026 and also tie her for the 12th-most in school history for a single match.
Annabelle Lanik (Sugar Land, Texas / St. John's) led the team with 15 digs, while
Courtney Pope (New Braunfels, Texas / Canyon) paced Trinity's offense with nine kills along with a .375 hitting percentage.
Amelia Payton (Acworth, Ga. / Harrison) recorded eight kills without an error for a .500 hitting percentage, adding four aces and five digs.
Lauren McCarthy (Corrales, N.M. / Horizon) led the team with four blocks, with
Connelley McWilliams (Austin, Texas / St. Michael's) and
Taylor Starr (Southlake, Texas / Carroll) tallying three blocks each. McWilliams added six kills and hit .417, while Starr had five kills and hit .556.
Emma Reeves (Plano, Texas / East) finished with 13 assists and also had three digs.
The Rundown
The two teams traded points early in the opening set until Trinity used a 7-1 scoring run to take a 10-6 lead. Payton and McWilliams had two kills each in that stretch, with McCarthy adding a kill and a block as the Tigers grabbed the early momentum. Millsaps scored two of the next three points, but Trinity answered with another extended run to effectively put the game out of reach. The Tigers scored six unanswered points to close an 8-1 run to take a 19-9 lead. Pope put up three kills during the six straight scores, and Payton also had a pair of kills in the decisive run. The Majors clawed back to within seven (22-15) late in the match, but the lead was already too much to overcome as the Tigers took the 25-16 win by scoring three of the final four points.
The beginning of the second game set the tone for the rest of the match. Trinity scored the first seven points, thanks in large part to five service aces from DeRivel. After trading the next several points, the Tigers had another 7-1 scoring spurt to pull away for good with an 18-6 lead. DeRivel served during the latter part of the run and had two more aces, while Starr contributed a kill and a block. Trinity finished off the lopsided set by scoring five of the final six points to take the 25-10 win, punctuated by back-to-back aces from Payton to clinch the 2-0 lead.
The final set began much like the first as both teams traded points early on. Another trend continued in the third as well, with Trinity rattling off a 9-1 run to turn momentum for good. Payton had two kills and two aces during that stretch, putting the Tigers up 13-4. After the Majors scored to end six unanswered points by Trinity, the Tigers were at it again with another extended scoring streak. This time it was five straight points and an 8-1 streak that featured two kills by McWilliams and two more from
Lily Long (Glenview, Ill. / New Trier) to make it a 21-6 advantage. Millsaps scored its final point right after and the Tigers rattled off four in a row to close out the sweep. Long had a kill and an ace, then Starr combined with Pope and Payton for two match-ending blocks.
Up Next
Trinity will face #2 seed and ninth-ranked Berry College (GA) in the SAA Semifinals tomorrow evening at 5:00 p.m. The winner will advance to the SAA Championship match, which will be on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. against the winner between #1 seed and fourth-ranked Centre College (KY) and #4 seed Southwestern University (TX). Centre and Southwestern will play at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow in the first Semifinal of the day.
