BANNOCKBURN, Ill. --- The TIU women's volleyball team welcomed the Fighting Bees of Saint Ambrose University to Van Dixhorn Arena on Tuesday night in Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) action. Coming off a 3-0 home victory over Trinity Christian last Friday night, the Trojans looked to kick off a busy week of action with a win against a Saint Ambrose team that they swept in straight sets back in August.

Trinity and SAU battled it out in a tightly contested opening set that saw both teams' offenses perform on point. It would be an 8-3 run by the Bees off of five kills and three TIU errors that allowed Saint Ambrose to take the opening frame, 25-19.

In the second set, SAU would continue their strong performance offensively, pulling again away from the Trojans in the middle of the set. Using a 7-1 run backed by two pairs of kills by Jill Kavalaukas and Meredith Umland, the Bees slowed down Trinity's attack to just eight kills in the set, while posting 17 kills as a team to roll to a 25-16 win.

Saint Ambrose would jump ahead 9-4 to open the third frame, but the Trojans would storm back thanks to a strong attack by Jazmin Coronado and Brianna Torres, and three service errors by SAU. Trinity would briefly take the lead on a kill by Matty Hawkins at 24-23, but the Bees would score four of the final five points to win the final frame 27-25 and complete the 3-0 sweep over TIU.

Hawkins led the Trojan attack with nine kills in Tuesday's loss, along with one block. Torres would total eight kills and 11 digs, as setter Anna Skrzypchak posted 25 assists in the loss. Madison Williams notched TIU's lone service ace on the night, while Jaylyn Freeman posted ten digs on defense.

ADDITIONAL GAME NOTES

• Trinity International falls to 8-11 all-time against Saint Ambrose with their loss on Tuesday night.

• TIU's loss snaps their six-match winning streak against the Fighting Bees. It is the first time Trinity has lost to SAU since Oct. 24, 2017, when the Bees beat the Trojans in four sets in Deerfield.

• With the loss, the Trojans now sit in a three-way tie with Judson and St. Francis (IL) in the CCAC standings with four matches remaining in the regular season. The top eight teams in the league will qualify for the conference tournament, with the top four teams hosting first round matches.

• Two of Trinity's final four matches will pit the Trojans against team's currently in the CCAC Tournament picture. TIU will travel to eighth place Cardinal Stritch on Thursday night, and host St. Francis (IL) next Tuesday.

• Saint Ambrose posted three service aces to TIU's one. SAU also unblocked Trinity 3-1.

• Junior setter Anna Skrzypchak surpassed 1,500 career assists in Tuesday's match, becoming just the sixth player in program history to reach that milestone. Skrzypchak, who now sits with 1,506 career assists, is now 50 assists from passing Dana Drout (2006) for fifth all-time in school history.

UP NEXT

The Trojans (14-13) will hit the road this Thursday night, October 28 as they travel to Milwaukee to take on the Cardinal Stritch Wolves in conference play. First serve is scheduled for 7:00pm CST at the CSU Fieldhouse, and can be watched LIVE on the Wolves Sports Network.
 

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Trinity International University is a comprehensive, national university affiliated with the Evangelical Free Church of America and located in Bannockburn, Illinois, 25 miles north of Chicago. TIU educates men and women to engage in God's redemptive work in the world by cultivating academic excellence, Christian faithfulness and lifelong learning.