CHICAGO – The Trine University women's volleyball opened their season in the Windy City on Friday afternoon, splitting a pair of non-league contests. Trine fell to Concordia-Wisconsin in four sets before sweeping Earlham College in the night cap.
Elli Baker led Trine with 28 kills on the day.
Concordia Wisconsin took match one 3-1 after spotting the Thunder the first set, 25-21, 21-25, 21-25, 26-28. Trine notched 10 aces in the match with Baker accounting for half.
Trine led set one nearly wire to wire after taking a 3-0 lead and controlling the back and forth affair.
Julia Maggio scored the first three for Trine and then stifled a run from CUW with a kill late in the set. The Trine defense stood tall down the stretch, breaking a 20-all tie by forcing a pair of errors to take the set.
The Falcons responded in the second set with a similar victory, leading most of the way and only surrendering the lead to a pair of errors forced by the Thunder. The Falcons then cruised to a 21-13 lead in set three before a furious rally by Trine pulled them within on point. Baker served up three aces and
Alexis Dreher pounded two kills. The rally fell short and CUW took the set. Neither team led by more than four in the final set that went to overtime. The Falcons staved off two set points from the Thunder and claimed the set 28-26.
Trine rode the service again in game two, taking down Earlham 25-16, 25-22, and 25-19 behind 13 aces.
Cali Stevons got hot from behind the stripe and served up five of the aces.
The aces came in set one and broke it wide open, Trine clawed their way to a 12-10 lead in an early slugfest. The Thunder regained service and set up
Reese Steenwyk for a kill. Stevons then rattled off all five aces in back-to-back fashion to give Trine a commanding 19-10 lead.
Annika Schrock got in on the fun and scored the last two points with a pair of perfect serves.
Trine turned a 17-14 deficit in set two into a 22-19 lead behind the hot hand of
Bailey Rasawher who spiked three sets from Schrock into the hardwood to steal the lead, and the momentum.
Elli Baker put the set away with a swing of her own.
The Thunder found their groove from the service line again in set three with Baker serving up a trio to build a 10-7 lead that ballooned to 18-12 and held steady to secure the sweep.
Trine wraps up their trip to Chi-town tomorrow, taking on the host Maroons, who are receiving votes in the AVCA Coaches' Poll.
