McDaniels hitting
3
Winner Cardinal Stritch CSU 1-0, 1-0
0
Trinity International TRINITY 0-1, 0-1
Winner
Cardinal Stritch CSU
1-0, 1-0
3
Final
0
Trinity International TRINITY
0-1, 0-1
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 F
Cardinal Stritch CSU 25 25 25 (3)
Trinity International TRINITY 15 18 19 (0)

Game Recap: Men's Volleyball | | Ethan Oskroba

Trojans show promise in defeat to Cardinal Stritch as new era begins

BANNOCKBURN, IL—While the Trojans were unable to capture the desired result in Thursday night's season-opening clash against CCAC rival Cardinal Stritch, they had already accomplished far more than a simple "W" could ever amount to. After years of dormancy—21 of them to be exact, save for the 2015 campaign that failed to call for a sequel—Trojan men's volleyball was back in action.

Trojan fever hung in the chilly air throughout Thursday afternoon, and the anticipation had reached its summit with a crowd of nearly 150 frenzied fans packed into Trinity's Van Dixhorn Arena. The crowd gave a warm and raucous welcome to the new-look Trojans, a squad featuring 12 men comprising a variety of backgrounds, ages, and levels of experience under the guidance of Head Coach Luke Ward and Associate Head Coach Kennedy Mang, a duo that recently piloted the nascent squad's women's counterpart to an NCCAA National Crown. The stage was set: the opening act was ready to be etched into Trojan history.

Once the proceedings got underway, the Trojans limped to an inauspicious start, but did manage to break the ice with a series of mile-marking achievements in the opening stages of the contest. Freshman Ethan Losinger introduced the ball into play for the Trojans for the first time in nearly a decade with his serve on the first point of the match before the Trojans cracked the scoresheet via a service error a few plays later for their inaugural score under the new regime. It was Matthew Perry, a multitalented athlete who picked off two passes on the gridiron this fall as a stalwart of the Trojan secondary, who recorded the first kill, battering a Losinger feed to the floorboards to shrink the Trinity deficit to 6-2. The score proved a harbinger of things to come, as Perry recorded two more kills to latch the Trojans firmly to the visiting Wolves before a runaway was possible, with the visiting side clinging to an 11-10 edge. The Trojans continued to scrap, with rangy attacker Laziah McDaniels accounting for much of the Trinity resistance with three kills in the set, but Cardinal Stritch recorded the final four points of the frame to claim the advantage with a 25-15 set win.

After being gifted the opening score of the second stanza via a service error, it seemed like the Trojans might be in for more of the same frustration that marred the final moments of the opening set as the Wolves surged ahead to a 3-1 lead. The Trojans regrouped brilliantly, however, rattling off four straight scores to pull ahead, 5-3. The middle portion of the set was tightly contested, with the lead changing hands on numerous occasions with both squads being prone to a series of miscues in a choppy, yet hard-fought, stretch. McDaniels again did everything he could to help the Trojan cause, racking up three early kills to help propel the Trojans in the gritty stalemate. Trinity nosed ahead, 15-14, but the Wolves would have the last laugh, overwhelming the hometown heroes with a timely 11-3 closing run. When the dust cleared, the visitors had seized a 25-18 set two triumph and a commanding 2-0 sets lead.

With their backs to the wall, the Trojans continued the trend of nip-and-tuck volleyball that had characterized the early portions of the previous set, alternating points with their rivals to stake out a 4-3 lead. It was then that the Wolves again kicked into gear, claiming 11 of the next 13 points to commandeer a 14-6 edge. The Trojans would not go quietly however, with fiery freshman Paul Martinez showcasing his fearlessness and tenacity, blasting multiple efforts through the extended arms of a pair of defenders en route to a three-kill set. A late surge by the Trojans trimmed the Stritch lead to just five, but the visitors retained their composure and staved off the Trinity threat, concluding the match with a 25-19 set win.

Despite the loss, the Trojans had a myriad of impressive individual efforts. McDaniels led the way with seven kills while adding a service ace, while Martinez (5 kills, .200 hitting percentage) and Perry (4 kills, one block) also chipped in with strong contributions. Losinger's 12 assists led the way for the Trojans as he manned a workhorse setter role, and libero Parker Lundberg racked up six digs to top the team in that category.

While the Trojans (0-1, 0-1 CCAC) may not have come away with the victory on Thursday night, they certainly accomplished plenty of other goals. Not only did they put the conference on notice that they're here to compete by posting a respectable effort against a team that won the majority of their CCAC games last season, but they also firmly established themselves as a legitimate collegiate team and a part of the Trojan athletics family. Forget their vanishing act for the majority of the new millennium. Forget the misfortune that was the lost 2015 season. It's time to focus on the here and now, and it's happening right before your very eyes. Ladies and gentlemen, Trojan men's volleyball is back.
 
 
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