Nov. 10, 2007

Box Score

For the second time in the past week, the No. 1-seeded Trinity University Tigers found themselves staring at a 2-0 deficit and on the brink of elimination in Hughey Gymnasium, but just like last weekend in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference championship match the Tigers ran off victories in three straight games to take a 3-2 win, this time over the No. 4 Southwestern Pirates in the second round of the NCAA Division III Volleyball South Regional Championship.

The Pirates took control early with victories of 30-26 and 30-24 in the opening two games, but Trinity answered with two definitive wins of 30-23 and 30-20 to force a fifth game, and the No. 3-ranked team in the nation took a 15-10 win in the decisive game.

In game one Trinity raced out to a 6-1 early lead, but following a timeout by Southwestern Coach Hannah Long the Pirates roared back to take a 10-7 lead and never looked back, leading by as many as six points in the game.

The momentum carried over into game two when the Pirates raced out to an 8-1 lead, and after the Tigers closed the gap to 14-11 midway through, Southwestern responded by extending the lead to 21-13 and cruised to the victory to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

However, the Tigers responded in dominant fashion in game three, taking a commanding 13-1 lead out of the gate. Southwestern rallied back but could never get the Trinity lead under six points. After battling to a 6-6 score midway through game five, the Tigers took control, getting out to a 12-8 lead and closing things out with the 15-10 win.

Audra Gentry led the Pirates with 19 kills, while Marie Bruce had 53 assists and 10 digs. Katy Lukaszewski had 11 kills and 14 digs, and Samantha Lingamfelter had a match-best 28 digs.