The Trinity volleyball team dominated at home this past weekend, going 4-0 in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play and tying for first in the conference with No. 18 nationally-ranked Colorado College.
“This was such a big weekend for us,” said first-year outside hitter Megan Reynolds. “There was great energy from the whole team and we all put everything into it.”
The Tigers began their weekend with a 3-0 win over the University of Dallas on Saturday afternoon.
Junior middle blocker Kelsey Daniel led with a .417 hitting percentage, while sophomore outside hitter Layne Hubbard contributed with 11 kills and 10 digs, and junior setter Maryn Swierc had 29 assists.
“Coach gave us the game plan and stuck to it, and it definitely worked,” Daniel said.
Later that day, Trinity swept No. 22 nationally-ranked Southwestern University.
Reynolds led with 13 kills and a .423 hitting percentage. Swierc had 35 assists and Hubbard contributed with 11 kills and 12 digs. Sophomore defensive specialist Mia Mineghino had 20 digs, senior defensive specialist Meredith Erwin had 19 digs, and junior defensive specialist
Leslie Green had 18 digs.
“Everything just seemed to click really well,” Reynolds said. “We were putting things away and Southwestern couldn’t handle it.”
On Sunday, Trinity continued with a 3-0 win over Centenary College.
Daniel led the Tigers with 12 kills and a .573 hitting percentage, while first-year middle blocker Allison Martinez had a .444 hitting percentage, and sophomore setter Jenny Epperson contributed with 28 assists.
“Our offense is starting to record more kills and we’re becoming lower error on our passing, which are two areas we focused on in practice last week,” said head coach Julie Jenkins.
Trinity finished the tournament with a 3-2 win over Austin College later that day.
Hubbard recorded 20 kills and 17 digs, while Swierc had 53 assists and Mineghino had 23 digs. Reynolds had a .310 hitting percentage and sophomore middle blocker Erin Cusenbary had 10 kills and a .300 hitting percentage.
“We started off really strong, but we backed down a little bit,” Daniel said. “We were making silly little errors, but came back in the fifth game and were able to win it.”
For their performances, Reynolds was named SCAC Offensive Player of the Week and Mineghino was named Defensive Player of the Week.
In their final regular season home game on Wednesday, Trinity swept Concordia University 3-0. Tucker led with 15 kills and a .500 hitting percentage, while sophomore middle blocker Maggie Emodi recorded 10 kills and a .360 hitting percentage. Daniel contributed with a .429 hitting percentage, and Swierc had 38 assists.
“I think we did a good job of not underestimating Concordia in today’s match,” Cusenbary said. “We’ve beaten them before but we did a good job of treating them like any other tough opponent.”
The Tigers will finish off their season this weekend at the Southwestern Invitational, playing Hardin-Simmons University and University of St. Thomas on Friday, and University of Texas-Dallas and University of Mary Hardin-Baylor on Saturday.
