Hartford, Conn. - The Wesleyan University volleyball team ripped off two-straight set wins to clinch the game after finding themselves down, 2-1, against the Trinity College Bantams on Friday night in Hartford. Wesleyan improves to 6-1 on the season and 3-0 in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) play while the Bantams fall to 1-6 this fall and 0-3 in conference action. 

Trinity won the first set despite Wesleyan starting on a 4-0 run to open things up. The Bantams, down 8-4, went on a 5-0 run to take a one-point lead and force the Cardinals to call a timeout. Trinity maintained the lead for the remainder of the set and won by a score of 25-20.

Set two was a back-and-forth affair as Wesleyan opened up a 16-14 lead thanks to a block from junior Sarah Swenson (Woodstock, Conn.) that forced the Bantams to take a timeout to regroup. After the timeout, The Bantams returned the favor and forced a Wesleyan timeout thanks to one of senior captain Rachel Hughes' (Boxborough, Mass.) six aces that made it a 19-18 Trinity advantage. Wesleyan, however, went on to win the set, 25-22, on a service error by the home team.

The Bantams jumped out to a 10-5 lead in the third set before the Cardinals clawed back and eventually took a 19-16 lead which prompted a Trinity timeout. The Bantams went on a 4-1 run out of the break to make it a 20-20 game. Trinity finished the set on a 3-0 run and won 25-22 on a block from junior Claudia Varner (Port Washington, N.Y.).

Set four was 7-7 in the early going before Wesleyan went on a 4-1 run to open a four point lead. The Cardinals kept their foot on the gas as they went ahead 22-16 before a kill by junior Rachel Underwood (Danville, Calif.) and an ace by junior Grace Metry (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich.) made things interesting and caused Wesleyan to burn a timeout. Varner came back with a kill right out of the timeout to make the score 22-18, however the Cardinals wrapped up the set win, 25-19, to tie the game at two sets a piece. 

The Cardinals started the deciding fifth set on a 5-1 run after a kill from first-year Gabby Bennett (Chicago, Ill.) forced Trinity to call a timeout. Trinity cut the deficit to two after a diving kill by first-year Colette Scheffers (Flossmoor, Ill.) and another ace from Hughes made it 7-5. Wesleyan kept the lead for the remainder of the way as the Cardinals clinched the set and match on a kill from Bennett.

Trinity senior tri-captain Randi Whitham (Weymouth, Mass.) led all players with 40 assists on the evening while Varner, Underwood, and Scheffers tallied 25 of the team's 50 kills, and sophomore Hanna Engstrom (Hopkinton, Mass.) led the team with 15 kills. Swenson paced the Cardinals with a team-high 15 kills while teammate Nicole Hilton (Wantagh, N.Y.) chipped in 12 kills of her own. Hughes led all players with six service aces for the Bantams. 

Trinity returns to action tomorrow, September 24, for a pair of matches against Colby-Sawyer College and Husson University. Their first game, against Colby-Sawyer, is slated to start at 11 a.m. while their match against Husson begins at 3 p.m.