SAN ANTONIO – The third-ranked Trinity University volleyball team split matches on the final day of the Trinity Fall Classic, falling in a 3-2 thriller against #13 Washington University (MO) before finishing with a 3-1 win over the University of St. Thomas (TX) on Saturday evening.
The Tigers (8-2) won the opening set against the Bears (8-2) 25-20 but dropped the next two 25-23 and 25-12. Trinity rallied to win 25-18 in the fourth set, but Wash U finished with a 15-8 win to hand Trinity its second loss of the season. Wash U won all three of its matches at the tournament to take first place. Trinity finished second after closing the weekend with a 25-13, 18-25, 25-20, 25-15 win over the Celts (1-5).
Lily Long (Glenview, Ill. / New Trier) finished with a career-high 22 kills in the loss to Wash U, adding nine digs and four assists.
Kendall DeRivel (Westlake Village, Calif. / Viewpoint) also put up a new career high with 19 digs to go with 24 assists to notch a double-double in the match.
Annabelle Lanik (Sugar Land, Texas / St. John's) added 13 digs and was the only other Tiger in double figures.
Amelia Payton (Acworth, Ga. / Harrison) recorded 13 kills and
Courtney Pope (New Braunfels, Texas / Canyon) finished with 10 to round out the Trinity hitters with double-digit kills. Pope also had five blocks and
Taylor Starr (Southlake, Texas / Carroll) finished with four, but both trailed team leader
Lauren McCarthy (Corrales, N.M. / Horizon) with six blocks in the match.
Anna Verhoff (Milton, Ga. / Milton) chipped in with 17 assists in the defeat, while DeRivel, Lanik, and Long had two aces each.
Against St. Thomas, it was Pope who led the team with 17 kills to tie her career best mark, hitting .333 and adding three blocks to tie McCarthy for the team lead. Long finished with a double-double of 13 kills and 13 digs, with Lanik leading the team with 16 digs. McCarthy hit .471 in the match and finished with nine kills, while
Annie Witt (Liberty Hill, Texas / Liberty Hill) had six kills in six attacks to finish with a perfect 1.000 hitting percentage. Payton and
Brynn Bishop (Indianola, Iowa / Indianola) finished just short of double figures with eight digs. DeRivel led the way with 27 assists and seven digs, with Verhoff matching the seven digs to go with 18 assists.
The Rundown
Coming soon…
Up Next
Trinity opens up Southern Athletic Association play next weekend, facing off against three conference teams at home next weekend. The Tigers will face Berry College (GA) on Friday, September 25, at 5:30 p.m. Trinity takes on Centre College (KY) and Oglethorpe University (GA) on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., respectively. Berry came into the weekend ranked ninth in the AVCA poll, while Centre was 20th.
