By: AUSTIN PARKS
Staff Writer
The IU South Bend Titans took on the Trinity Christian College Trolls on Oct. 16 at the Student Activities Center. The Titans looked to break a two game losing skid against the Trolls. The Trolls have been dominating all season with an undefeated Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) record, whereas the Titans are still struggling to break the .500 mark in the conference.
The Titans scored the opening point after a ball handling error by the Trolls. From there it was an evenly contested set early on. The two teams would trade kills back and forth until a ball handling error made by the Titans changed momentum.
After the error going down 7-6, the Titans let the set slowly slip away. A row of consecutive kills helped the Trolls take a 15-8 lead.
The Titans would never take back the lead in the set after falling down big. The Titans did however make a push coming within one point late in the set, out striking them in kills during the run. Titans end up losing set one 25-19.
Set two started out similar to set one with both teams trading points back and forth. Differently in this set, the Titans did not lose momentum. This made for an entertaining set with many lead changes and ties.
This set was so close that no team led by more then three points. The set came down to who could rally late.
With the score tied 24-24, huge kill by Sarah Allison put the Titans up 25-24. With the set on the line the Trolls made an attack error that won the Titans the set 26-24.
In the third set the Trolls got stronger as the set went along. Once again it was close in the beginning, but the Titans couldn’t keep up with the Trolls as the set progressed.
The Trolls dominated the Titans in kills which helped them take a commanding lead in the middle of the set 18-11. From there the deficit only grew for the Titans not being able to stop the Trolls offense.
Titans lose the third set 25-18.
Down two sets to one the Titans needed to win the fourth set to keep the game alive. Starting the fourth set the Trolls got off to a fast start up 4-1 early. The Titans came back to tie it at 5-5 after multiple mistakes by the Trolls leading to attack errors.
Unfortunately for the Titans that would be as close as they got to a lead all set. After the tie the Trolls quickly took over going on a 6-2 point run putting them up 11-7.
From there on the Trolls maintained around a five to seven point lead the rest of the way ultimately winning the set 25-17 and the game three sets to one. In the game the Trolls scored 63 kills to the Titans 47. The Titans gave up more errors 23 to the Trolls 17. The Trolls hitting percentage was at .238 while the Titans was at .125 percent.
