PENSACOLA, Fla. – The Trevecca Nazarene University volleyball team had a chance on Sunday to secure their spot in the NCAA Tournament with a win in the Gulf South Conference Championship title match. The Trojans (22-9) fought valiantly, but despite taking a set off the top-seeded University of West Florida Argonauts (27-5) for the third time this season, Trevecca was unable to take the win as they fell 3-1 in the title match.
SERIES HISTORY
The match was the fifth all-time between UWF and TNU, and the Argonauts have won all five meetings. The Trojans have taken a set in four of the five meetings, all of which have come in the last two seasons.
MATCH RECAP
Neither team won consecutive points in the first 14 rallies of the match. The Argonauts scored first, but each time they served with the lead, the Trojans tied the score, and entering the middle stages of the frame, the score was knotted at 7-7. That is when the GSC regular season champions went on the offensive, as UWF rattled off a 7-2 run that helped them build a 14-9 lead, and the Trojans were unable to recover. While the Argonauts did not put together a lengthy run late in the set, they traded two points for every one the Trojans were able to score for much of the rest of the way, and UWF took set one 25-16 to take the 1-0 lead in the match.
Early in set two, Skias Hainline made TNU program history. She set up Mackenzie Martin on the third rally of the second frame, and Martin cashed in the kill which gave Hainline her 1,169th assist of the season to set a new program single season record.
The Argonauts built an early 6-4 lead, but the Trojans ran off a 6-2 run to reclaim the advantage at 10-8. The set maintained its back-and-forth tone through the middle stages of play, but consecutive kills from Martin and Reese Payne gave the Trojans a late 19-17 lead. Moments later, a kill from Addison Cunnagin and a block from Cunnagin and Katilyn Grant pushed the Trojans' lead to 22-19, and while UWF pushed back to take a 24-23 lead, Trevecca won the final three points of the set, including a kill from Hainline and an ace from Kayla Bullard that ended the set with a 26-24 Trevecca win to level the match at a set apiece.
Trevecca had trouble getting the offense in gear in the third set. The Trojans had only six kills in the set, and they were charged with eight attack errors in the frame. Trevecca battled, but they were unable to stay close to the Argonauts in the frame, as UWF took the set 25-9 to take the 2-1 lead in the match and push the Trojans to the brink of elimination.
The momentum remained firmly in the camp of UWF heading into set four. After the teams split the first four points evenly, UWF went on a 6-0 run to take an 8-2 lead. Trevecca managed to close the gap to four at 13-9 when Grant and Cunnagin combined on a quick 3-0 spurt for the Trojans, but UWF closed things out with a 12-1 run to take the set 25-10 and the match 3-1.
TROJAN HIGHLIGHTS
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Skias Hainline dished out 31 assists, and she now has 1,187 assists on the season which sets a new program single-season record. She also has 2,510 assists for her career, which sits second all-time behind Loren Bennett who has 2,678. If the Trojans season continues, she will have a chance to make a run at that mark.
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Lilly Vanbebber led the Trojans with 14 digs in the match, which set a new single-season mark for the Trojans. Vanbebber now has 562 digs on the season, surpassing the old record of 560 which was set by Bennett in 2015. Kayla Bullard was also in double-figures with 12 digs, and Hainline added nine digs.
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Trevecca had a pair of players named to the GSC All-Tournament team. Lilly Vanbebber and Skias Hainline each earned the honor. Vanbebber had 43 digs in the tournament, and she added seven assists and two service aces. Hainline finished the Championship with 79 assists and 19 digs. She also had four kills and seven blocks.
UP NEXT
Trevecca must now wait to see if they did enough to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The 64-team bracket will be announced on Monday evening at 6:30 p.m. CST during the Selection Show which will be streamed on NCAA.com. The Trojans have only made the NCAA Tournament field one other time - during the 2015 season when they went to Big Rapids, Michigan and fell to the Ferris State University Bulldogs in the first round.
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