Volleyball Shows Promise on Difficult Weekend

JUSTIN FORTIER ’18
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The Trinity Volleyball team had a tough start to their season standing 0-2 in the NESCAC and 1-5 overall. The season began very promising with a close 3-2 loss to Eastern Connecticut State University. The Eastern Connecticut Warriors pull from a much larger 4,420 base of full time undergraduates with a strong recruiting presence in high schools throughout Connecticut; the five set match the Bantams fought out was certainly an accomplishment.
In the public versus private matchup, Eastern Conn. and Trinity stayed neck and neck throughout the first set with a last Eastern pulling away with a two-point lead to end the set 25-27. The Bantams moved quickly to take the second 25- 18 and then the third 25-16 in quick succession. Trinity powered through thanks to performances from Collette Scheffers ’20 – a strong rookie in her college debut, as well as Hanna Engstrom ’19, and Claudia Varner ’18.
The fourth set did not go smoothly for the Bantams, and the Warriors slid the set count to 2-2 with a 14-25 effort. The final set was up for grabs, and remained close, but was ended without fanfare at 12-15. The following games were a series of disappointments with a glimmer of joy excitement during a hotly contested three set sweep of Westfield state at the final day of the Trinity Volleyball Invitational. This game followed a tough loss to Clark University earlier that day.
The Westfield matchup highlighted a competitive contest as well. The Owls flew out in front to start off the first set, but the Bantams quickly proved that flightless birds can indeed be superior, and went on an offensive assault. With a comfortable six-point lead, the Bantams coasted into the final points of the set, before comfortably finishing at 25-19. The second set was a fight for momentum as the Owls surged to a 9-2 lead over the Bantams. However, the Trinity ladies were as resilient as they clawed their way to an even matchup at 24-all. It may have been the carelessness of Westfield state, or the sheer willingness to win from Trinity, but an unforced error by the Owls put Trinity ahead by one to reach the set-point score of 26-25. Carter Stanci ’20 proved to be a strong new asset, as she closed out the second set; 27-25. With the Owls’ wings clipped, the Bantams effortlessly ran through to the finish; closing the final set with the largest lead of the day; 25-18.
All in all the Bantams have had a tough start to the season, but have wrapped those in a few moments of brilliance. The power of the team is certainly coming from its younger members, which is a great foundation for the rest of the season and beyond, once the team is able to mature together.