Bragg Surpasses 4,000 Career Assists as Trojans Hold Off Marian in Five

Volleyball | Sat, Oct. 29, 2022 at 5:35 PM
| by Jake Chipka

INDIANAPOLIS – After No. 11 Taylor secured on Friday its first Crossroads League Regular Season Championship in over a decade, the Trojans returned to the court on Saturday against No. 18 Marian, whom the Trojans withheld in five sets to notch their eighth win in a row.

Taylor has now won 18 of its last 20 matches, finishing the regular season with an authoritative record of 16-2 in Crossroads League play. Saturday’s win over Marian served as an exclamation mark in Taylor’s championship season, marking the first time Taylor has swept Marian since 2016.

Along the way to Taylor’s five-set win over Marian, senior setter, Kacy Bragg, surpassed 4,000-career assists, becoming only the fifth player in TU history to accomplish such a feat. Bragg entered play on Saturday 37 assists shy of the 4,000-career mark, easily surpassing that mark with a 50-assist performance.

Senior outside hitter, Arlanda Faulkner, served as the beneficiary on many of Bragg’s assists, posting a season-best 20 kills against the Knights. Faulkner wasted little time in accumulating her kills, as she and Anna Frey slammed six kills apiece in the opening set.

In that first set, an early 5-1 TU lead quickly morphed into an 18-8 advantage, from which the Trojans coasted to a 25-18 set win. Faulkner recorded the final three kills for the Trojans en route to their first set win of the day.

Taylor doubled down with a commanding 25-14 set win in the match’s second period of play, throughout which the Trojans capitalized on 10 Marian errors. In tandem with the Knight miscues was a one-two Trojan punch of Bragg and Grace Ieremia, who combined for seven kills in the second set.

Behind the support of its home fans, however, Marian was poised to offer a comeback. Setting the stage for a decisive fifth set of play, Marian took both the third and fourth set as Taylor caught the cold of unforced errors.

Taylor recovered at just the right time, though, as the Trojans posted 10 kills in tandem with just two errors toward a 15-8 fifth set and match win.

Three Trojans posted 10-or-more kills, as Frey and Ryan Czerniak tallied 14 and 10, respectively. Meanwhile, Ieremia recorded six kills alongside six blocks, while Bragg just missed out on the third triple-double of her career as she finished with seven kills beside 50 assists and 13 digs.

No. 11 Taylor (27-5, 16-2 CL) has now firmly established itself…