WVB huddle
Stephen Largent
0
St. Francis (Ill.) ST. FRAN 19-18, 10-6
3
Winner Trinity International TRINITY 25-8, 13-4
St. Francis (Ill.) ST. FRAN
19-18, 10-6
0
Final
3
Trinity International TRINITY
25-8, 13-4
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 F
St. Francis (Ill.) ST. FRAN 26 28 23 (0)
Trinity International TRINITY 28 30 25 (3)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball | | Ethan Oskroba

Trojans keep dream alive, down St. Francis in thriller

BANNOCKBURN, IL— Playing in front of their home crowd for the final time in 2022 at Van Dixhorn Arena, the Trojans gave their loyal supporters a thrill while also moving one step closer to their first CCAC tournament title since 2004, beating the Fighting Saints of the University of St. Francis on Tuesday evening.

A tense anticipation hung in the chilly air all afternoon on Trinity's campus, and the arena was buzzing with nearly 250 fans, a record draw for the campaign, cramming into the bleachers. Trinity's students flocked to the arena in droves while the visitors mustered their fair share of support as well, with several Fighting Saint fans adding to the remarkable turnout and brilliant atmosphere. The game had a playoff feel right from the start as the rival sides fought to punch their ticket to the conference semifinals.

It was the Fighting Saints who delivered the first blow once the proceedings got underway, seizing a 7-4 advantage. The Trojans fought back, however, finding their rhythm a few points later with a sequence of four straight scores that was fueled by an Anna Skrzypchak service ace and a pair of kills by standout attacker Lana Vujosevic. The visitors responded in short order, one-upping the Trojans by tallying six straight to open up a 14-9 lead. After a timeout, the Trojans really started to click, turning the tables again by scoring eight points on nine plays behind a trio of kills by all-world talent Brianna Torres to pull ahead 17-15. The scrappy Saints continued to battle, however, and the squads remained in a deadlock near the end of the frame with the score knotted at 23. The Trojans had an opportunity to seal the opening stanza in their favor after a St. Francis serving error but ceded a kill to their opponent to even things up at 24. Trinity then fell behind on a rare attacking error by Torres, but the Trojan star showcased her resilience by bouncing back on the very next play, finishing off a feed from Skrzypchak to fend off the opening set loss and tie it up at 25. The Trojans managed to collect another set point opportunity after a Fighting Saint miscue, but conceded the next point to reset the scenario. Finally, Trinity broke through, capitalizing on another St. Francis service error followed by an attacking blunder to outlast their opponent and snare the opening set by a 28-26 margin.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, the second set was waged on level terms for much of its duration, with Torres and Vujosevic continuing to rack up kills to help the Trojans keep pace as they trailed by a razor-thin 15-14 margin. It was then that the Fighting Saints caught lightning in a bottle, scoring six times consecutively to put the Trojans on their heels and threaten to even the reckoning. Sensing the urgency, the Trojans turned it on in dominant fashion, rattling off seven straight scores to reach a 21-21 tie. Trojan freshman Theresa Romero, who had struggled to find her footing earlier in the contest, seemed infused with abilities conjured from the realm of the supernatural as she established herself on the grand stage in her postseason debut, recording three kills and a block during the torrid stretch. With the teams on level terms once more, the Fighting Saints managed to reset, as the rival squads traded points before the visitors staked out a slim 24-23 lead, giving themselves a chance to claim the set. The Trojans dug deep and came up with a huge play, with Skrzypchak setting up Vujosevic for the set-tying kill. Beyond regulation, the Trojans turned defeat away three more times, starting with freshman Isabella Acosta atoning for an earlier miscue with a brilliant improvisational strike that led to a St. Francis error before Trinity later evaded disaster via an attacking error and yet another kill by the red-hot Vujosevic. The Trojans finally got off their heels and mounted some momentum of their own with Skrzypchak dialing up a timely ace before St. Francis again drew level. At long last, the Trojans got over the hump and salted away the set, with Romero notching another clutch kill before Vujosevic added to her team-leading total with her 47th ace of the season proving to be by far her most important one as it boosted her Trojans to a 2-0 advantage.

It looked as if the Trojans might waltz past the Fighting Saints in set number three as the hometown heroes built up a commanding 12-4 edge with five different Trojans checking in with kills over the blistering stretch. However, not to be outdone by its predecessors, the third set found a way to be riveting nonetheless, with St. Francis reeling in the Trojans with a 10-3 run that brought them to within one. With their ownership of the lead severely challenged, the Trojans found a spark, with Skrzypchak aiding the Trinity attackers with a total of four assists on kills by standouts Torres (2 kills), Vujosevic (1), and Romero (1) to give the Trojans a bit of breathing room with a 20-15 lead. The Saints again rallied, this time rapping out four straight to reduce the Trojan lead to one before Trinity then responded, with Skrzypchak finding a cheeky kill on a cleverly placed shove over the netting before Madison Williams converted a Skrzypchak feed to keep the Trojans up by three. Much like in the earlier sets, the Fighting Saints lived up to their name, again mounting an impressive comeback effort that had Trinity leading by an uncomfortably thin 23-22 margin. It was then that Romero again etched her name in Trojan lore, bashing down another kill off a perfectly placed set from fellow freshman Acosta to give Trinity match point. A St. Francis kill applied the pressure to Trinity, but the Trojans got a timely contribution from an unlikely source when first-year Trojan Halsie Keltner picked a perfect time for her first and only kill of the evening, muscling a strike through the St. Francis resistance to give the Trojans the pivotal victory.

While the Trojans emerged victorious via the sweep, a single glance at the 3-0 margin doesn't even begin to do justice to the thrilling battle. The box score tells the story of how even the match was, with the Trojans holding miniscule edges in kills (49-44) and assists (44-40), while both teams hit at a remarkably efficient clip, with the Trojans accumulating a .211 hitting percentage while the Saints checked in at .191.

The Trojans needed, and got, several tremendous individual contributions to vanquish their pesky foe, with Vujosevic (game-high 16 kills, .213 hitting percentage), Torres (13 kills), Skrzypchak (game-high 30 assists, 2 aces), and the ever-impactful under-the-radar star libero Jaylyn Freeman (game-high 23 digs) sharing the limelight for the Trojans. But perhaps the headline for the Trinity was Theresa Romero, as the true freshman elevated her game on the grandest stage with a magnificent 10-kill, .409-hitting percentage masterclass of dominance and efficiency to lead the Trojans to victory.

The Trojans (25-8) will aim to survive and advance once more as they continue their quest for the program's first conference tournament title since 2004 when they make the brief trek to Chicago to take on the regular season champions, St. Xavier, on Thursday, November 10.
 
 
TIU Trojans
 
TIU Women's Volleyball
 
 

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.
 
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