Danbury, Conn. - The visiting Trinity College Bantams defeated the Western Connecticut State University Colonials, 3-1, in volleyball action this evening at Feldman Arena. Trinity improves to 4-0 and Western Connecticut falls to 3-5.
"I thought Western played great defense and blocked really well," said Trinity Head Coach Jen Bowman. "We had to work hard for all our points. We are a young team and still trying to hit our stride together."
In game one, Trinity went on a 13-3 run to turn a 3-3 tie into a 16-6 Bantam lead. Trinity still held a 10-point at 21-11 lead when Western Connecticut went on a 6-2 run to narrow the gap to 23-17. Trinity controlled the final two points of game one for a 25-17 win.
In game two, Colonial sophomore Nina Wojtkiewicz (Griswold, Conn.) went on a 9-1 run to claim a 12-4 lead. Western Connecticut maintained a comfortable lead throughout, and then held off a late Trinity comeback attempt, led by the hitting of junior co-captain OH Hannah Brickley (Melrose, Mass.), to take a 25-20 victory an even the match at 1-1.
Game three proved to be a battle from start to finish. With the score tied at 9-9, Trinity scored four unanswered points for a 13-9 lead, prompting a Western timeout. Behind two more kills from Wojtkiewicz and two from senior Paxton Thornton (Sharon, Conn.) Western battled back to even the score at 17-17. Neither team led by more than one point for the remainder of the game until Trinity scored back to back points at 25-all to win game three and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
For the fourth game in a row, the two teams battled to an early 3-3 tie before Trinity moved out to a 10-6 lead, resulting in a Western timeout. Trinity scored the next two points , but Western came back to narrow the margin to 15-13. Leading 18-16, Trinity then went on a 5-0 run for a commanding 23-16 lead. After a Western side-out, Trinity took the game's final two points for a 25-17 game-three victory, and a 3-1win for the match.
Statistical leaders for Trinity were Brickley with 19 kills and 16 digs, senior co-captain OH Danielle Isaman (Warrenton, Va.) with 14 kills, freshman MH Kate Giddens (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.) with nine kills and 14 digs, junior S Amy Hackett (Wallingford, Conn.) with 29 assists, and freshman S Gina Buzzelli (Cheshire, Conn.) with 19 assists. For the match, Wojtkiewicz led Western with 12 kills followed by Thorton with 11. Sophomore Jennifer Hogan (Franklin Square, N.Y.) handed out 33 assists to lead the Colonials, while sophomore Shirley Rodriquez (Rio Grande, Puerto Rico) led with 49 digs.
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