NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. – The Manchester Spartans (5-4) proved to be too much for the Trine University women's volleyball team (2-9) on Wednesday evening. Slow starts doomed the Thunder in two of three sets. Jordan Budzinski and Elli Baker led the Thunder defense with eight digs each and Emmaline Leatherman paced the offense with nine kills.
 
Manchester took the match 25-14, 25-22, 25-20. The Spartans jumped all over the Thunder in set one hitting .318 and taking an early 13-3 lead. The margin was too much to overcome and MU claimed set one.
 
Set two appeared to be heading the same way with the hosts claiming a 7-2 lead. The Thunder righted the ship by forcing a trio of attack errors before getting the offense going by way of an ace from Julia Maggio and kills from Leatherman and Baker. A 5-0 run late in the set pulled the Thunder within two, trailing 20-18. Leatherman heated up with four kills and a block in the back half of the set to pull Trine within one. MU took the last two points of the set for the win.
 
There were six ties and two lead changes in set three. Until the final tie at 20-20, neither team led the set by more than four. Leatherman and Maggio led the offense with three and four kills respectively. Manchester broke the 20-all tie with five consecutive points and took the match.
 
Trine heads to the Franklin College Invitational this weekend. The Thunder will match up with the Thunder of Wheaton (Ill.) at 6 p.m. and then do battle with Kuyper College in the nightcap at 8 p.m.