The Trinity University women’s volleyball team played four matches this weekend, all of which ended in a victory for the Tigers. The games all took place in Sherman, Texas, as part of the SCAC Cross Divisional Championships.
On Saturday, the Tiger women defeated both Centenary College (La.) and Austin College. In the game against Centenary College, Trinity came in as the no. 1 seed in the conference while Centenary was ranked eighth. The skill set of the Tigers led them to a 3-0 victory. The following evening, in the game against Austin College, the team won in a 3-0 victory. This was the second time that Trinity has played Austin College this season, and both times the game ended in a victory for the Tigers.
The next day, the Trinity women played the no. 8 ranked nationally Colorado College (Colo.) team for the second time this season. With a score of 3-1, the win was cleaner than the first 3-2 game that they played.
“I thought it was one of our best games this season,” said head coach Julie Jenkins. “We came out with good mental toughness, managed our mistakes well and competed as well as we could, one point at a time. I am very pleased with how the team performed.”
On the offensive end, Maggie Emodi led both teams with 16 kills; likewise, Shannon Courtney led the game with four aces and 27 digs, which was a career high. Also, with no reception errors, Courtney was selected as this week’s SCAC player of the week.
“Colorado College was a great game, fun to be a part of. The energy on and off the court was awesome. We had beat them in five games earlier this season, so knew that we would have to fight hard. We played well and didn’t let our mistakes get us down. It always feels great to beat a highly ranked team, and to do it twice is even better. We are such a good team and it is always encouraging to be able to show it,” said senior Kelsey Daniel. “This win also knocked Colorado College down four spots in the national rankings and brought us up four spots to be ranked 15th in the nation, which is really exciting.”
Just twenty minutes after their victory against Colorado College, the Tiger women played the University of Dallas, which they defeated 3-0.
“The game was going to be more of a mental battle than a physical one after just beating Colorado College. We played to our level and didn’t drop off, so mission complete. We couldn’t underestimate them or we could just as easily lose,” said sophomore Megan Reynolds.
Before this weekend the Trinity women’s volleyball team was ranked 19th in the nation, but after the victories in the past week, their ranking improved to 15th. This leads them to four more games next weekend at the Emory National Invitational in Atlanta, Ga.
The Tigers are currently ranked second in the South region. The only team ahead of them is Emory University, the host of the upcoming weekend’s tournament. Emory is also ranked sixth in the nation. During the tournament, the Tigers will also face Cortland State University (N.Y.), Berry College (Ga.), and Juniata College (Pa.) in that order. Juniata eliminated the Tigers from the NCAA tournament last season, ending Trinity’s season. This will be the team’s last tournament before the SCAC Championships.
