Hartford, Conn. – The Trinity College volleyball team dropped its third straight New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) game on Friday evening, falling, 3-0, to Middlebury inside Oosting Gymnasium. With the defeat, the Bantams move to 11-7 on the year and 3-5 in league play, while the Panthers bounced back from a non-conference loss last time out to improve to 8-8 overall and 4-3 in conference tilts.

Trinity was led offensively by junior tri-captain Kate Giddens (Ranchos Palos Verdes, Calif.) with a game-high 11 kills, while classmate and fellow tri-captain Hunter Drews (Clifton Park, N.Y.) had six kills. Bantams sophomore outside hitter Amanda Horan (Rumson, N.J.) added four kills and sophomore setter Randi Whitham (South Weymouth, Mass.) had a team-best 13 assists.

Freshman outside hitter Becca Raffell and senior right-side hitter Olivia Kolodka paced the Middlebury attack with eight kills apiece, while freshman outside hitter Alice Roberts added seven of her own. Sophomore setter Hannah Blackburn did a good job distributing the ball and racked up 28 assists.

On the defensive end, Emily Kolodka had a match-high 15 digs for the Panthers and Blackburn added 14. For the Bantams, sophomore libero Kristen Cooprider (Hopkinton, Mass.) had 10 digs.

In the first game, the two squads battled back and forth with Trinity going on a 4-0 run to take a 17-16. After falling behind, Middlebury closed out the game on a 9-1 run to win 25-18 and take a 1-0 lead. The Panthers carried the momentum over gaining an early in the second game. A run of aces and well placed kills gave Middlebury a 19-10 lead as they held on take the game, 25-14. In the third game, the two conference foes traded the first 26 points as the score was knotted at 13 apiece. The visitors answered with a 4-0 run to take a 17-13 lead. Down the stretch, the Panthers would hold for a 25-19 victory as Olivia Kolodka put the game away with a kill.

Trinity concludes a home weekend of NESCAC action tomorrow afternoon, Oct. 18, with a match versus Hamilton. The contest with the Continentals is slated to begin at 2:00 p.m. The match is also part of the conference's DigPink weekend. To learn more or support the cause click here.