TIGERS TOPPLE TROLLS IN FIVE SETS ON SENIOR NIGHT

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. – The Olivet Nazarene University women's volleyball team celebrated its seniors in thrilling fashion, taking down conference foe Trinity Christian 25-23, 22-25, 25-17, 19-25, 15-12 Tuesday night in McHie Arena on senior night.

Senior duo Halle Nicholas and Kelsey Todd made their last game in McHie Arena count. The former scored a match-high 18 kills on a .424 hitting percentage, and the latter had 11 kills and assisted on a pair of blocks. Senior Kaylee Cozen added eight kills and four blocks of her own and Kaitlyn Kolb recorded six kills.

The Tigers rallied to claim the opening set. Trailing by three late at 22-19, consecutive kills from Kelsey Todd, Halle Nicholas, and Ella Johnson tied the score, and a block from Johnson and Kolb gave ONU the lead. Back-to-back attack errors from TCC gave the Tigers the 1-0 advantage.

The Trolls (8-22, 4-9 CCAC) returned the favor with a late rally to take the second set, but the Purple & Yellow Gold came back to dominate the third. Back-to-back blocks from Cozen and Todd extended an early ONU lead to three points, and a Nicholas service ace capped off the big set.

Trinity Christian put down 20 kills against just two attack errors to claim the fourth and force a decisive fifth set. The two teams traded points early, but a Kolb kill broke a 6-6 tie and the Tigers never looked back. Three consecutive kills from Nicholas gave ONU a 13-10 advantage and back-to-back kills from Sanif capped off the thrilling win.

Analiese Fredin etched her name into the ONU record books, finishing with a career-best 55 assists in the win. The mark is tied for the 10th-most assists in a single match in ONU history, with Janelle Skinner hitting the number in 2021. Fredin added five kills and reached double figures in digs with 12.

Three other Tigers reached double digits for digs, led by libero Sara Serafimova with 18. Breanna Lamie and Natalie Wall both finished with 12 digs, as well.

The win, the Tigers' third in a row, improves the team to 11-16 overall and 7-6 in the CCAC. They wrap up the regular season at Saint Xavier Thursday.

--ONU—

*Contact: Evan Wild, Sports Information Director, ewwild@olivet.edu