TU Volleyball Takes Season Sweep of Huntington for Fifth-Straight Win

HUNTINGTON, Ind. – Taylor rode the strong play of Grace Isaacs and Julia Pomerenke to victory on Wednesday at Huntington, getting 33 kills from the middle hitters to score the 17-25, 25-22, 25-20, 26-24 road win and extend its current win streak to five-straight.

The comeback four-set win gave the Trojans a season sweep of the Foresters (13-14, 5-7 CL), after also handling HU in four sets in the Crossroads League opener for both squads back on September 4 inside Odle Arena.

Isaacs and Pomerenke were nearly unstoppable on Wednesday in Platt Arena, with Isaacs slamming 19 kills on a .325 clip to go with four blocks and one ace and Pomerenke posting 14 kills to just one error for a blistering .394 percentage.

With the Trojans dominating the play in the middle, the combo of Kacy Bragg and Abby DeSimpelare continued to excel at the setter position. The duo teamed for 46 assists, 15 digs and six kills in the four-set affair.

Amanda Adams was held to eight kills to end a streak of three-straight matches with at least 14 terminations, but picked up a team-leading 21 digs for a second-straight outing with at least 20 digs.

Along with the crisp attack, Taylor slowed the CL's leading kills artist on the other side of the net to nine kills and 11 errors in 50 swings.

The Trojans fell in an early hole in the match however, as Huntington closed the opener with nine of the final 10 points to take the win. TU then saw a lead slip away late in the second set as well, before two kills from Karli Ware brought Taylor even at 20-20 and an ace from DeSimpelare made it 21-20, before a Pomerenke kill later evened the contest at one set each.

Taylor had to rally again in the third set, using a 13-3 spurt to flip an 11-5 deficit into an 18-14 edge on its way to the win and again came from behind in the fourth set to take the match.

After facing deficits of 7-2, 9-5 and 12-8 in the fourth, the Trojans eventually drew even at 20-20 but later faced a set point with HU holding a 24-23 edge. TU closed the evening with the final three points, sandwiching a Forester miscue with a pair of kills from Isaacs to seal the win.

Taylor (17-12, 7-5 CL) will play at No. 19 Marian (22-1, 9-1 CL) on Friday at 7:00 pm, before playing at No. 3 Indiana Wesleyan (22-1, 9-1 CL) on Saturday at 3:00 pm.