WHITING, IN — After tussling with top-ranked St. Xavier at home and vaulting northward for a tri-match against two more solid squads, the Trojans were unable to regroup in advance of a conference clash against the Calumet College St. Joseph's Crimson Wave, falling to their CCAC counterparts on the road in three sets on Tuesday night.
Trinity struggled to gain traction out of the gates, chasing by a 9-1 margin as the match got underway. Powerful attacker
Matthew Perry added to his impressive team-leading total by registering a pair of finishers that bumped him to 50 kills on the season, but the Trojans continued to falter. While Trinity went down swinging, fending off a pair of set points, their bounce back effort was eventually stifled, with the Wave claiming the set, 25-9.
Despite a lack of offensive prowess and conversion, a clean brand of volleyball that put the pressure on the opposition helped the stubborn Trojans mount a challenge. Unfortunately, another early deficit was enough to overcome the Trojans' scrappy defiance, as they dropped the set, 25-13.
The Trojan offense regained its flair in the third set, with swiss army knife
Ethan Losinger chipping in with a pair of kills and assists while
Laziah McDaniels put the finishing touches on his strongest outing since returning from an injury that sidelined him for a month, recording two kills and an ace. Unfortunately, a slow start again proved to be the Trojans undoing, as they fell behind 15-4, and despite a spirited closing spree, never recovered, losing 25-15.
The Trojans (0-13) will continue to fine tune their squad as they look to maximize production in what has been a trying season so far. While slow starts and a lack of offensive firepower were enough to stall them on Tuesday, they did play one of their cleaner matches against another solid opponent. Having accumulated miles from four matches in five days while facing teams with a combined 31-16 (.660) record, the Trojans will look to reload before returning to Van Dixhorn for a clash with the Trolls of Trinity Christian on Thursday evening.
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