ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University women's volleyball team completed a comeback in the opening round of the 2025 MIAA Volleyball Tournament presented by Collegiate Credit Union, defeating visiting fifth-seeded Saint Mary's College three sets to two.
The Thunder had a trio of hitters come up huge in the contest with freshman Elli Baker leading the pack with 22 kills on just one error. She finished with a massive .447 hitting percentage. Sophomore Reese Steenwyk was second on the team with 17 kills and senior Emmaline Leatherman rounded out the trio with 16 kills.
Trine opened by building a 6-3 lead on the back of what turned into the beginning of a strong blocking night. Leatherman had two assists during the stretch with Addyson Kuzma and Baker recording the others. The Belles stormed back, however, going on an 8-1 run that gave them an 11-8 lead of their own. They held that lead until late in the set, with the Thunder only getting within one three times before the visitors built a 24-22 lead. Trine staved off five set-points before winning the opening stanza on their first chance, with a swing from Steenwyk.
Despite the comeback it was Saint Mary's that built on the momentum from the first set. They held an early lead before the Thunder responded to take a lead of their own at 7-4. The home team fended off the next few rallies by the Belles keeping at least even until the visitors took the lead at 17-16. Saint Mary's built on that lead over the final stretch of the set to win 25-19.
The third set was neck-and-neck until the Belles pulled away to a 20-16 lead. Trine rattled off four straight points of their own with Baker leading the charge with a kill and service ace during the stretch. Julia Maggio had the other kill during the streak, one of 14 she collected ruing the night to finish fourth on the team. Saint Mary's retook the lead and had two straight set-points fended off by the Thunder. They had a third at 25-24, before ultimately putting Trine on the brink of elimination with a 27-25 victory for the 2-1 lead in the match.
Things looked particularly grim early in the fourth set, with Saint Mary's building an 8-3 lead and forcing a timeout. The Thunder responded with a 9-1 run, mostly on the serve of Cali Stevons. They mostly held that lead through the end of the set, forcing a decisive fifth with a 25-21 win.
Once again, the Belles built the early lead in the final set, pulling ahead to 6-3 and then 7-4, but it was the Thunder that forced the court flip with a four-point run to take an 8-7 lead. They continued the run, all on the service of Baker, building an 11-7 lead. Saint Mary's never faded away in the contest, keeping the score close, but never retaking the lead. Anna Zellers set up Leatherman for the final kill and the 15-13 win in the set.
The Thunder block was formidable in the contest with the team finishing with 20 blocking assists and two solos. Kylie Rowland led the team with six, while Leatherman finished with five.
Zellers led the team with 33 assists while Stevons came in second with 26. Zellers also led the team with three service aces, Rowlands and Baker each added a pair.
In a statistical quirk, only three members of the team recorded digs in the contest. Jordan Budzinski led the team with 33 as the libero, with Maggio finishing second with 31 and Baker coming in third with 30.
With the victory the Thunder improve to 11-14 overall, but more importantly their season will continue in the semifinal round of the MIAA Tournament. They now travel to face top-seeded and nationally ranked Hope College on Friday, November 14. The contest is a quick rematch from last week, when Trine forced a fifth set against the Flying Dutch in the regular season finale. Opening serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday.
