Waterville, Maine - After dropping the first set to Colby College, the visiting Trinity College volleyball team won the next three sets by getting off to early leads in a 3-1 victory in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) play this evening at Wadsworth Gymnasium.  The Bantams improved to 6-8 overall and 1-5 in conference play, while the Mules drop to 4-12 and 0-5 in the league. Colby will host Wesleyan University on Saturday at 10 a.m. and then face Babson College at 3 p.m. Trinity heads to Bates College for a 1 p.m. match.  The Bantams lost 25-20 in the opening set and then rallied for 25-23, 25-20, 25-16 set wins.

Trinity got off to a 5-2 start in both the second and third sets and then pulled away from a 3-3 tie in the fourth set with eight straight points for an 11-3 margin.  The second set proved to be the pivotal one for the Bantams. The Mules fought back from 5-2 down to take a 6-5 lead, but Trinity settled down and won the next six points for an 11-6 margin. The Bantams pulled away for a 20-13 lead only to watch Colby cut the margin to one point (20-19, 22-21, 23-22, 24-23) on four occasions. Sophomore Rachel Underwood (Danville, Calif.) had a kill on the 25th point for Trinity.

Colby fell behind early again in the third set, but rallied again to tie the set at 13-13. However, Trinity won the next four points to pull away for good.  With the score 3-3 in the final set, the Bantams ran off eight straight points to take an 11-3 lead. The Mules fought back again with seven straight points to make it a one point deficit at 11-10. Trinity pulled away again with a 7-2 run to take an 18-12 lead. First-year Wyllie Boughton (Andover, Mass.) closed out the match with a kill.  The Mules had darted out to an 11-7 lead in the first set. The Bantams got as close as 19-17 before the Mules went on a 6-3 run to close out the set.

Underwood finished with 12 kills, three service aces, and two blocks. Senior tri-captain S Randi Whitham (Weymouth, Mass.) added 40 assists and 12 digs, while junior Claudia Varner (Port Washington, N.Y.) had nine kills and four blocks. Rookie Colette Scheffers (Flossmoor, Ill.) had two aces and both Scheffers and sophomore Hanna Engstrom (Hopkinton, Mass.) had eight kills.  Paige Hanssen led Colby with 12 kills, while Karolina Serhan had nine kills and two aces. Elizabeth Noyes finished with eight kills and Nicole Petherbridge had five.