Last weekend the Trinity women’s volleyball team travelled to Georgetown, Texas, for the SCAC Cross Divisional. They competed against University of Dallas, Centenary College, Colorado College and Austin College and won all four matches. The Tigers are now 17-3 for the season and first place in the conference. They are now ranked No. 23 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association National Poll. Trinity is seventh all-time for most national poll rankings. Junior outside hitter Layne Hubbard was selected the SCAC Volleyball Offensive Player of the Week for her performance this past weekend. Hubbard led the team in aces this weekend.
The Tigers opened up their SCAC weekend with a shutout match against the University of Dallas and a 3-1 victory over Centenary. Senior setter and captain Maryn Swierc led the team in assists against Dallas with 22, followed by first year setter Erika Edrington’s 12 assists. The Tigers completed the match with a total of 37 kills and 37 aces.
Trinity outscored Centenary 76-41 and had 56 kills to Centenary’s 30. Hubbard had a double-double in the match with 14 kills and ten digs. She hit .429 in the match. Junior outside hitter Maggie Emodi and Edrington also had a double-double in the match. Emodi had 12 kills and 14 digs while Edrington had 19 assists and 11 digs.
“I think we did a really good job of staying composed and not getting too comfortable with the score. We kept pushing ourselves throughout every game and just focused on staying positive and playing our game. We don’t want to take our wins for granted. We treat every game like it’s game one and make sure we always stay focused, rather than leaning back on how well we’ve done before,” Edrington said.
On Sunday, Trinity defeated No. 10 ranked Colorado College 3-2. Going into the match, Colorado College was undefeated. It was Trinity’s first victory over a top ten team. Trinity lost the first and third set, but ultimately pulled through to win the match. Emodi led the team in kills with 14 and 15, respectively. Junior middle blocker Erin Cusenbary recorded five blocks in the game. Swierc recorded 28 assists and ten digs while senior defensive specialist Leslie Green had 19 digs for the game. The Tigers recorded a total of 62 kills and 60 assists. They hit .239 overall.
“It was a team effort against Colorado College. Our setting was terrific; I think we have the best setters in our conference. Swierc and Edrington did an incredible job running the offense and did a great job defensively as well. They played well under pressure. It was really fun to watch. Our team as a whole””we’re not relying on one person for our scoring; we’re getting it from every position, which is a sign of a really good team,” said head coach Julie Jenkins.
Following the Colorado College match, Trinity went on to defeat Austin College 3-1, only losing the second set and winning the next two by a margin of at least ten. Emodi had an excellent match, recording 19 kills, three blocks and hitting .486. Cusenbary recorded another five blocks against Austin College. Hubbard and Green both had 17 digs for the match.
“We all really came together as a team and picked each other up on the court. We started really strong this year, stronger than the past, and have made a lot of progress. We just need to work as hard as we have been and use this past weekend as a confidence booster to really motivate us to work even harder for the rest of the season,” Cusenbary said.
Trinity is now halfway through their conference schedule and will play each conference team one more time before the SCAC Tournament. Trinity will host Concordia University at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, October 9, and will participate in the SCAC Group A Divisional for a second time, playing Southwestern at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 11th and will play Schreiner at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 12th, followed by Texas Lutheran at 5 p.m.
