Trojans Spread the Love on Offense to Re-Enter Win Column

Volleyball | Fri, Sep. 23, 2022 at 9:10 PM
| by Jake Chipka

HUNTINGTON, Ind. – After experiencing its first loss of the 2022 Crossroads League conference-season to Saint Francis on Wednesday, the No. 19 Taylor volleyball team (16-4, 5-1 CL) re-entered the win column on Friday evening when they swept Huntington (6-11, 2-4 CL) on the road.

Four different Trojans posted nine-or-more kills, including TU’s sophomore duo at mid-hitter, Grace Ieremia and Jaylynn Dunsmore, who combined for 19 kills and 7.0 total blocks. Meanwhile, outside hitters, Arlanda Faulkner and Anna Frey, combined for 19 kills of their own, presenting a wicked array of offensive firepower for the Foresters to anxiously consider throughout the match.

Setting the table for Taylor’s four-headed monster on offense was senior setter, Kacy Bragg, who totaled 39 assists and moved into sixth place all-time in TU program history for career-assists. The Warsaw, Indiana, native now boasts a total of 3,521 assists for her career, 188 shy of Amber McClure and a share of fifth place all-time in Trojan program history.

Taylor managed a 25-21 opening-set win, thanks in large part to Ieremia who pocketed Taylor’s final three points of the set, two via the block and the final by kill. The West Florida transfer executed both power and precision early on, totaling five kills at a hitting-percentage clip of .714 in the first set.

The second set, then, unfolded a bit less competitively, as TU ran away with a 25-14 set win. Two significant Taylor runs paved the way for its second-set win, including a 5-0 run to establish a 15-6 lead and force a Huntington timeout. Dunsmore fueled the Trojan attack by scratching five second-set kills into the scorebook, including three in-a-row at one point. Though, Faulkner’s offensive production began to come alive in the second set as well, as she posted four kills herself en route to Taylor’s 11-point set win.

Huntington exercised a great deal of composure, however, battling back in what proved to be a highly competitive third set. The two teams offered blow-for-blow until the score read 10-10 and each team accumulated eight kills and two errors apiece. At this point in the set, Taylor exercised its will by embarking on a 5-0 run, though Huntington resiliently answered with a 5-0 run of its own to even the score at 15 before snagging a 19-16 set-lead.

Four untimely Forester errors carved space for Taylor to…