Box Score DEERFIELD, Ill. - In a back and forth matchup, the Trojans comeback effort came up just short, as TIU suffered a five-set defeat (22-25,26-24,21-25,25-23,9-15) to Cardinal Stritch on Tuesday night.

The opening set of the night saw the Wolves jump out to a big lead early and not look back from there. With the score tied at three, Cardinal Stritch went on their longest rally of the match, rattling off eight consecutive points to take an 11-3 lead. The Trojans did their best to close the gap but the early lead from the Wolves was too much to overcome as CSU took the opening game 25-22. 

The Trojans got right back into the match in the second set, earning a hard fought 26-24 victory. With the Wolves leading almost the entirety of the set, it took some last minute heroics from the Trojans to keep Stritch from taking a two set lead. With the Wolves at set point, Trinity International rattled off six consecutive points to win the second game. Two kills from Amber Dieringer and a service ace from Hannah Matthew capped off the comeback win.

In the third set of the evening, it was the Trojans who got out to the early lead, quickly getting on the scoreboard and taking a 8-1 lead. The Wolves continued to fight back, trading points with the Trojans and pulling within four points, with the score at 16-12 midway through the set in favor of TIU. An ensuing 7-0 run from Stritch was the turning point in the set, as CSU went on to take the set 25-21.

It was another strong bounce back effort from the Trojans in the fourth set, as Madeline Decker and Sam Brenneman each had four kills to help the Trojans even the match at two sets a piece to force a deciding fifth set.

The final set of the match it was once again the Trojans who jumped out quickly, leading 7-3 early, but eight straight points from Stritch gave the lead right back to the Wolves. Cardinal Stritch would close out the set 15-9 after winning the final two points.

The Trojans will hit the road this Friday as they make the short trip to Elgin to take on Judson University at 7 pm.