BANNOCKBURN, Ill. --- This weekend the Trojans co-hosted a tournament with Trinity Christian College as they played two matches at home on Friday evening then traveled to Palos Heights for two more earlier today. Facing off against two NCCAA and two NAIA opponents, Trinity walked away with a perfect sweep - winning all four games in three sets each.
 
Game One: Ohio Christian University (12-25, 12-25, 16-25)
Trinity took an early 2-6 lead, capitalizing on Trailblazer attacking errors before three consecutive kills widened the gap even further. Nadia Wheeler increased the Trojans lead with back to back kills, bringing the score to 7-14. Not giving up yet, Ohio Christian fought back and traded points with TIU until another kill by Wheeler started a five point run. Another Trailblazer error gave Trinity the set victory..

Keeping the score close, the Trojans were ahead by a single point before Lana Vujosevic started a nine point rally, interrupted only by an Ohio Christian timeout after conceding multiple attacking errors. With a score of 6-14, Vujosevic started another rally that included four service aces by Anna Skrzypchak. Not defeated yet, the Trailblazers tried to rally behind an eventual Trojan service error and scored five points before the Trojans took over again and closed out the game.

In the final set, Trinity once again took a quick lead 1-4 but Ohio Christian fought back quicker and tied the game 5-5. Turning it up again, Briana Torres notched a kill to start a six point rally while also earning herself a service ace in the sequence. The Trailblazers pushed back with a rally of their own, closing the gap 9-11. A well-timed break by Trinity broke the Trailblazers focus and took back the serve. Another string of five points with Skrzypchak serving included two additional aces for the senior, bringing the score to 10-17. A late push by Ohio Christian brought them within four points of the Trojans, but it wouldn't be enough as TIU put together another rally then cleaned up the final points to secure their first sweep of the weekend.
 
Game Two: College of the Ozarks (19-25, 21-25, 25-27)
In a revenge match-up after dropping a close tiebreaker set at NCCAA Nationals last season, the Trojans came out with a vengeance to take a 4-11 lead against the Bobcats in set one. The Ozarks pushed back but Trinity kept their lead and increased it to 12-23 before the Bobcats strung a three point rally, followed by a four point rally. A timeout by Trinity with the score at 19-24 froze the Ozarks as Torres landed a kill to send the first set.

Trading points in the initial services, Trinity took a small lead 3-6 after a kill by Vujosevic and an Ozark error. Following a couple of Trojan errors, the Bobcats closed the gap 7-9. As neither team was able to string together more than two points before losing the serve, the score stayed tight until another kill by Vujosevic started a four point rally. Desirae Pisano was serving and earned her first ace of the season. A late rally by the Bobcats brought the score within three points but the Trojans notched their final point with a kill by Madison Williams.
Another close start, the scoreline remained within a couple of points until the set was tied at 14-14. Williams started a six point rally for the Trojans with another kill, followed by Torres with a second and both assisted by Skrzypchak. With a 14-20 lead, the Bobcats made a final push to force a fourth set with a five point rally to bring their deficit within a single point before tying the set 21-21. Continued momentum gave the Bobcats a 24-23 lead before giving a service error. Two additional kills by Torres and a service ace by Theresa Romero completed the Trojans sweep.
 
Saturday at Trinity Christian College
Game Three: Webber International University (17-25, 14-25, 14-25)
TIU jumped out to another early lead, going up 4-9 over the Warriors. A pair of back to back kills by Webber interrupted by just one Trojan point closed the gap 8-10. Both teams traded points frequently until Trinity strung three together with kills by Vujosevic and Wheeler as well as a Warriors attacking error. Webber tried to counter but came up short, while the Trojans rallied for their final four points.

Maintaining their momentum, Trinity started strong again with a 3-8 lead before swapping a few points with Webber. Back to back kills and another Warriors attacking error gave the Trojans a bigger lead at 5-12. Vujosevic notched another kill to start the Trojans biggest rally of the day with Pisano earning three service aces in the midst of it. Skrzypchak assisted the last two kills of the set to secure another TIU victory.

Initially a close set opened up quickly after a kill by Skrzypchak started a five point rally for the Trojans and gave them a 5-11 lead. Broken up by a kill by the Warriors, Trinity answered back with three consecutive kills by Skrzypchak, Vujosevic and Romero to more than double the Warriors' score. With points dropping on both sides of the net, Trinity kept focused while Webber gave up multiple consecutive errors. Vujosevic landed another kill before Skrzypchak earned another ace to sweep their third game of the tournament.
 
Game Four: University of Michigan-Dearborn (25-15, 25-15, 25-20)
An even game through the first ten points, Trinity began to pull away after back to back errors by the Wolverines. With Emma Gallegos serving, the Trojans rallied for six points before conceding a couple errors of their own. Leading 16-11, Trinity went on a kill streak with Torres, Vujosevic, and Wheeler notching one a piece. A final push by the Wolverines had the teams trading points before the Trojans secured their first win of the match.

A kill by Vujosevic followed by an ace from the same started the Trojans with another lead in the second set. Back to back kills by Torres gave the Trojans a small lead before the teams began swapping points. Another kill by Vujosevic sandwiched between Wolverine errors increased the Trojans lead to 10-5. Taking advantage of further Dearborn errors, Trinity cruised to a 16-11 lead. Williams assisted by Skrzypchak, then a kill by the latter increased the score to 18-11 before a TIU timeout was taken. Six of the seven final points for Trinity came from kills by the Trojan front line.

In what would be their final set of the day, Trinity struggled initially as they fell behind 0-6. A timely break from Coach Ward refocused the team and out of the break the Trojans rallied for four points. With the Wolverines still leading, the two teams traded points and errors before Trinity finally tied the game at 15-15 following another four point rally. Dearborn broke the tie before giving up a service error to tie the score again. This time the Trojans grabbed the lead and never looked back, securing the match victory and perfect sweep of the tournament.
 
Up Next
The Trojans are back in Deerfield for their conference opening game as they host the Fighting Bees of Saint Ambrose University on Tuesday evening at 7:00pm.
 

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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.