New London, Conn. - Senior tri-captain Randi Whitham (Weymouth, Mass.) recorded her 1,000th career assist as the Trinity College volleyball team blanked the Mitchell College Mariners on Tuesday evening in New London to earn their third straight win. The Bantams won by set scores of 25-23, 25-15, and 25-18, in their fourth 3-0 victory of the season and third in as many games while Mitchell falls to 3-7 after the setback.

Trinity spread the scoring out offensively as five players had five or more kills on the evening. Junior Claudia Varner (Port Washington, N.Y.) led the team with nine kills, sophomore Hanna Engstrom (Hopkinton, Mass.) and first-year Colette Scheffers (Flossmoor, Ill.) each had eight, sophomore Rachel Underwood (Danville, Calif.) had six, and senior tri-captain Rachel Hughes (Boxborough, Mass.) had five. Underwood continued her dominance on the serve with a game-high four aces while Scheffers added three. Whitham needed just one assist to reach the 1,000 mark and surpassed it during the first set, finishing with 28 to lead all players. 

The Mariners were paced by Myia Williams (Roselle, N.J.) with six kills while Janelle Rice (Meriden, Conn.) finished with five kills and 15 assists. Colby Zitoli (Walpole, Mass.) contributed a match-high 18 digs on the defensive end.

With the score tied at 10-10 in the opening set, Trinity won 11 of the next 17 points to take its largest lead at 21-16. Mitchell took six of the next eight points, however, to trim the deficit to one following a service ace by Rice. The Bantams called a timeout to regroup, and a kill by Engstrom and a Mitchell attack error was enough to give the visitors to an early 1-0 advantage.

Trinity seized control of the second set early on, racing out to a 14-8 lead behind three kills from Scheffers. The Bantams served for five of their 13 aces in the stanza and finished things off with a kill by Underwood and an ace by junior Grace Metry (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich.) to go up 2-0.

Trinity added five more aces in the final set and committed only two hitting errors. Mitchell tied the score at 10-10 on an ace by Italia Krick (Griswold, Conn.), but the Bantams responded by winning eight of the next 10 points to pull away. 

The Bantams return to action on Friday when they host Bowdoin in a New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) matchup at 8 p.m. in Oosting Gymnasium.