SAN ANTONIO – The 19th-ranked Trinity University volleyball team began its final weekend of the regular season with a 3-0 sweep of McMurry University (TX) on Thursday night in Calgaard Gymnasium.
The Tigers (19-8) won 25-15, 25-16, and 25-17 over the War Hawks (6-16) and limited the visitors to a .113 hitting percentage. Trinity also had a 44-28 edge in kills and recorded seven aces in the lopsided victory.
Lily Long (Glenview, Ill. / New Trier) led the Tigers with 18 kills and tied for the team lead with two aces and nine digs, just missing a double-double. Long also had just three errors in 41 attempts for a .441 hitting percentage.
Lauren McCarthy (Corrales, N.M. / Horizon) led the way with five total blocks and also finished with 10 kills and a .500 hitting percentage, while
Amelia Payton (Acworth, Ga. / Harrison) added three blocks and three kills.
Anna Verhoff (Milton, Ga. / Milton) and
Emma Reeves (Plano, Texas / East) finished with a team-leading 10 assists each, with
Kendall DeRivel (Westlake Village, Calif. / Viewpoint) and
Lauren St. Charles (Southlake, Texas / Carroll) adding seven assists each. St. Charles also tied Long with nine digs and both DeRivel and Verhoff chipped in with seven digs.
Annie Witt (Liberty Hill, Texas / Liberty Hill) tied Long for the team lead with two aces, while also adding five kills and six digs.
The Rundown
After giving up the first point of the night, Trinity scored four straight and eight of the first 11 in game one. Payton had back-to-back kills and Long had an ace in the 4-0 run, then Payton and McCarthy combined for a block and Reeves served up an ace to make it 8-3. After trading off the next several points, McMurry battled back to within two (12-10), but the Tigers scored 10 of the 12 eight points and pushed the lead to 22-12. Payton and McCarthy combined for two blocks in the middle of the run, then McCarthy combined with
Connelley McWilliams (Austin, Texas / St. Michael's) for another block towards the end. McCarthy also had a pair of kills in the stretch that put the game out of reach. Trinity scored its final three points on McMurry errors and took a 1-0 lead.
Long and DeRivel had early aces and kills as the Tigers jumped out to a 6-2 lead on the War Hawks to start game two, but McMurry used a 5-0 run just a couple of points later to take a 9-7 lead. Trinity then scored three straight points with three different players picking up kills that were assisted by three different teammates. The War Hawks came right back with two scores of their own to reclaim the lead, but the Tigers then put on a huge scoring run to turn the game around for good. Witt served through a 12-0 run by Trinity that made it a 22-11 lead. Witt had two aces during that serving run, while McCarthy had a solo block and two kills; however, it was Long who enjoyed the run more than anyone after scoring five kills during that stretch. She then had two kills among the final three points to finish off the game and put Trinity on the verge of the sweep.
Witt continued her strong play in the third set, picking up a couple of early kills to push the Tigers out to a 5-2 lead early on. McMurry never led in the set but kept Trinity relatively close. Long had a couple of kills in a 3-1 run to inch the lead up to 10-6, but McMurry was back within two just minutes later. Errors cost the War Hawks in another run by the Tigers that was capped by back-to-back kills from Long for a 16-11 lead. The margin was just four in the closing points of the set when Trinity scored four of five to take a 23-16 lead – the largest of the game to that point. Witt had two kills, Long added another, and St. Charles added an ace. After McMurry scored again to break up the streak, McCarthy threw down consecutive kills to clinch the match.
Up Next
Trinity will close out the regular season schedule by hosting Hardin-Simmons University (TX) tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. The Tigers will honor their parents and will also celebrate Senior Day.
