SAN ANTONIO – The 19th-ranked Trinity University volleyball team finished off its regular season schedule with a 3-0 sweep over Hardin-Simmons University (TX) on Friday night.
The Tigers (20-8) won by scores of 25-10, 25-21, and 25-23 over the Cowgirls (14-11), heading into next weekend's Southern Athletic Association Tournament with a six-match win streak. Trinity hit better than .350 in each of the first two sets, holding HSU under .300 in all three games – including a .074 hitting percentage in the opener. The Tigers finished with nine service aces, 50 kills, and 59 digs.
Trinity celebrated its four seniors with a ceremony after the match. Seniors
Kendall DeRivel (Westlake Village, Calif. / Viewpoint),
Lauren McCarthy (Corrales, N.M. / Horizon),
Connelley McWilliams (Austin, Texas / St. Michael's), and
Courtney Pope (New Braunfels, Texas / Canyon) were honored after the match. Pope led the team with 10 kills in tonight's game, while McWilliams finished with nine kills and a .450 hitting percentage, and McCarthy had six kills. DeRivel recorded 22 assists to lead the team, eclipsing 1,900 for her career. She also added 14 digs for a double-double and also led the team with four aces.
Annabelle Lanik (Sugar Land, Texas / St. John's) and her 16 digs were the team high tonight, while
Emma Reeves (Plano, Texas / East) finished with 12 assists.
Lily Long (Glenview, Ill. / New Trier) just missed a double-double after picking up nine digs to go along with her nine kills and a .320 hitting percentage.
Taylor Starr (Southlake, Texas / Carroll) led the Tigers with four blocks and added five kills on seven attempts (.714).
Amelia Payton (Acworth, Ga. / Harrison) chipped in with seven kills and five digs, with
Brynn Bishop (Indianola, Iowa / Indianola) also contributing eight digs.
The Rundown
The Tigers gave up the first point of the game but were quickly out to a 6-2 lead as Pope had a pair of kills and DeRivel chalked up three quick assists. Hardin-Simmons brought the deficit to just two at 8-6, but Trinity turned on the afterburners after that with a 13-1 stretch that included a long serving run by DeRivel and a 21-7 lead. McCarthy started it off with a kill and an ace, then after HSU scored to break up the streak, the Tigers scored nine unanswered points. DeRivel had three aces among the first four points and added two more assists to her stat sheet, Pope had a block and a kill, and Starr had a kill and two blocks. Trinity finished by scoring three of the last four points with kills from Pope and Payton, and a game-clinching ace from Reeves.
Trinity never trailed in the second set, though Hardin-Simmons kept things close early on. Pope had back-to-back kills to open the game, but HSU tied things up at 4-4 shortly after. McCarthy and McWilliams both had kills in a 3-1 spurt to put the Tigers up 8-5, but once again, the Cowgirls were able to keep pace and were down just 9-8 when Trinity broke ahead. The Tigers scored six of the next eight points with kills from five different players to take the lead to 15-10. Trinity couldn't score more than two in a row as Hardin-Simmons clawed its way to a two-point deficit, and eventually, trailed by just one at 22-21. A Hardin-Simmons service error was followed by a service ace from
Lauren St. Charles (Southlake, Texas / Carroll), and then a solo block by McCarthy put the finishing touches on the second set.
The visitors got off to their best start in the third set and held a slim 4-3 lead when Trinity scored four straight points to regain control of the match. Payton had a kill and an ace and McWilliams added two kills. Instead of falling further behind as they did in the previous games, Hardin-Simmons answered with its biggest run of the night (6-0) to take a 9-7 lead. Trinity got right back in it after that, and the teams traded leads for several points as neither could pull away. The Tigers broke a 15-15 tie by scoring five of the next six points, fueled by two kills by Long and a kill and a block from McWilliams. The Cowgirls were not going down without a fight, though, and scored three of the next four to make it a 21-19 game. Long answered with a kill and then
Annie Witt (Liberty Hill, Texas / Liberty Hill) had consecutive kills of her own to set up match point. After HSU made the entire Trinity crowd nervous with three straight points of their own, Witt added one final kill to finish off the sweep.
Up Next
Trinity will host the SAA Tournament next weekend, beginning on Thursday, November 12. The #3 seed Tigers will play at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday against an opponent to be determined. The Semifinals will be held on Friday, followed by Saturday's SAA Championship at 12:00 p.m.
