SAN ANTONIO – The #2 Trinity University volleyball team notched a 3-0 sweep over #4 East Texas Baptist University to open its part in the Trinity National Invitational on Friday night.
The TU Tigers (2-0) breezed to a 25-11 win in the opening set, hitting .467 as a team and holding the ETU Tigers (1-1) to just .034 hitting in the game. Trinity went on to win 25-21 and 25-22 to complete the sweep, avenging last year's 3-1 loss to East Texas Baptist at the same tournament. Trinity hit over .300 in all three sets in tonight's match, while also holding ETBU below .300 in all three games.
Amelia Payton (Acworth, Ga. / Harrison) finished with a team-leading 12 kills to go with a .526 hitting percentage on 19 attempts.
Lauren McCarthy (Corrales, NM / Horizon) had just one error on 10 attempts, hitting .600 with seven kills.
Lily Long (Glenview, Ill. / New Trier) added nine kills, while
Courtney Pope (New Braunfels, Texas / Canyon) also had seven kills and hit .368 in the match.
Annabelle Lanik (Sugar Land, Texas / St. John's) accounted for more than 1/3 of the team's digs defensively, finishing with 13 out of the team's 37 digs in the match.
Taylor Starr (Southlake, Texas / Carroll) led the team with three blocks and
Connelley McWilliams (Austin, Texas / St. Michael's) added two blocks to go with five kills.
Kendall DeRivel (Westlake Village, Calif. / Viewpoint) and
Anna Verhoff (Milton, Ga. / Milton) tied for the team lead with 19 assists each.
The Rundown
Trinity started off strong in tonight's matchup of top-five teams in the preseason poll. The Tigers scored the first two points and never trailed in a dominating first set. East Texas Baptist got out of sync and never really recovered as Trinity's pressure was relentless from start to finish on both offense and defense. After Trinity led 6-2 early, ETBU was able to keep the lead from getting out of control after that, matching Trinity's scoring output through the middle of the set. The lead was just 12-9 when Trinity really went on the attack, finishing with a 13-2 run to earn the win. That run was jump-started by four kills by Payton that surrounded an ace by Lanik. East Texas broke up that streak with a score, but the Tigers came back with four straight this time – including two more kills from Payton. She finished with nine kills in the opening set alone. McCarthy and Payton added two more kills in the final four points of the win to put the home team up 1-0.
The teams traded scores early in the second set and it was obvious from the start that ETBU had regained its composure and was ready for a fight. East Texas wrestled control of the set with three straight points to take a 10-6 advantage and was able to hold off Trinity to stay in front for the middle of the set. Down 15-13, Trinity finally put together a run thanks to two kills from McWilliams among a 4-0 spurt. ETBU was able to answer and tied the set 18-18 and 19-19 but could never get back in front. A kill from Pope and an ace from Lanik broke the 19-all lead to give Trinity control. McCarthy had a pair of kills late to make it 23-21, then East Texas Baptist made two straight errors to gift Trinity the win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
Earlier in the day, ETBU engineered a reverse sweep to earn a win over Gustavus Adolphus College (MN), and the team had its sights set on another to start the third set. The ETBU Tigers scored the first three points of the third and were able to keep in front of Trinity for the first several points. However, Trinity was not to be denied and used a 4-0 streak to take an 8-6 lead. Both teams traded short runs after that to take slim leads, but it was Trinity that had the lead last. McCarthy had back-to-back kills a few points later to put the Tigers up 18-14, but ETBU continued to fight to the end. The lead was just two late in the set when Payton came up with a pair of kills to help Trinity hold off East Texas Baptist and secure the sweep.
Up Next
Trinity will continue tournament play tomorrow against the University of Redlands (CA) at 11:00 a.m., then will finish the weekend against Gustavus Adolphus at 6:00 p.m.
