Middletown, Conn. - On the first day of the two-day Wesleyan
University Volleyball Quad Match, the Trinity College Bantams
secured an exciting five-set victory over the host Cardinals,
3-2. Trinity knocked off Wesleyan for the second time this
year, having captured a NESCAC match in Middletown Oct. 6,
3-0. The Bantams have now taken three in a row from the
Cardinals after Wesleyan enjoyed a 23-2 stretch from 1999-2008 in
the long-standing series. Trinity is now 12-7. Alo this
evening at Wesleyan, Babson recovered from an early 7-2 shortfall
in the fourth set to go ahead 12-8 and maintained the lead en route
to a 25-17 decision. It was the second time this season that
Babson defeated WNEC by a 3-2 count. Trinity will complete at
Wesleyan tomorrow at 11 a.m. against Babson and at 2 p.m.
against Western New England.
Tied at 10-10 in the fifth set, Trinity scored five of the final
six points to claim the match, 15-11. The Bantams controlled
the open set from start to finish, racing out to a 9-3 lead and
pushing the gap to 19-7 before coming away with a 25-15 win.
The next three sets were all tied, 15-15, with the Cardinals
outscoring the Bantams 10-3 down the stretch in the second set for
the 25-18 victory. It was 18-18 in the third set before a 5-1
Wesleyan run made it 23-19. The final score was 25-22, giving
Wesleyan a 2-1 lead. The Bantams got the better of it
in the final stages of the fourth set for the 25-22 win,
extending an 18-17 lead with a close 7-5 finish.
A balanced Trinity attack helped secure the win as senior Kristen
Anderson (West Haven, Conn.)had 17 kills, followed closely by
both freshman Hannah Brickley
(Melrose, Mass.) and sophomore Danielle Isaman
(West Hartford, Conn.), who had the match-clinching kill in the
fifth set, with 16 kills each. Junior Sarah Blagden
(Charleston, S.C.) equaled her career-high with 35 digs to lead the
Bantams in that area. Junior Alexandra Pell
(San Diego, Calif.) had 18 digs and Brickley added 15. Junior
Jennifer
Low (San Francisco, Calif.) had 54 assists and three aces while
junior Kelly
O'Brien (Pelham N.Y.) had three blocks. Wesleyan got 21
kills from junior Casey Reed. Senior Lesley Faulkner was next
with 12 kills. Sophomore Laura Yim had 46 assists. In
the digs area, senior Ruby Hernandez had 21 and senior Stephanie
Hucker contributed 16. Sophomore Laura Volgenau was the
Cardinals' blocks leader with four. Reed chipped in with
three blocks.
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