Trojans Upend No. 13 Mount Vernon Nazarene in Five-Set Thriller

UPLAND, Ind. – An intense battle between top 25 squads took five sets to decide, with No. 21 Taylor edging No. 13 Mount Vernon Nazarene (17-6, 8-3 CL) 15-13 in the fifth for a vital Crossroads League victory.

The Cougars grabbed a quick 3-1 lead in the fifth and continued to lead at 6-5 until Ruth Anderson began a 4-0 run, with Daya Vestal adding a pair of kills in the stretch.

Taylor extended the lead to 12-7 after a pair of errors on the Cougars, but the road squad took the next four points to trim the lead to one.

A couple of extended rallies saw the evenly matched teams trade points until Ellie Frey notched her 22nd kill of the afternoon to close the book on the upset with a 15-13 win in the set and 3-2 match victory. Frey matched her kills with 22 digs as she impressed with her all-around game.

A total team effort saw three Trojans reach double-digit kills and the defense surpass 100 digs for the first time since 2022. McKaylah Flagle led the group with 34 digs, while four more joined her in double digits.

A block party was in session for TU, posting 13 blocks compared to four for the Cougars. Vestal paced the squad with eight blocks and Reagan Kleiman added a career-high six. Vestal added 13 kills, while Kleiman had 11 and a trio of digs.

Taylor came out strong in the opening set, racing out to a brief 7-3 lead before four attacking errors gave MVNU its only lead of the set. A Lindsay Springer ace preceded a Cougar error as TU slowly built a 14-11 lead. Springer led the team with 33 assists, while adding 14 digs for a double-double.

A late 21-17 evaporated for the Trojans, but tied at 22 apiece three errors by MVNU, including Vestal blocking the deciding point made it a 25-22 victory in the first set.

The second set turned into a marathon with each team having three set points before the Cougars took it on a solo block by Evelyn Brown.

Taylor responded quickly in the third as Reagan Salzbrenner got hot tacking on five kills in the first 20 points to get TU a 12-8 advantage. The wheels fell off shortly after as MVNU powered to a convincing 25-20 set victory to get on the precipice of a match win.

The Trojans, staring defeat in the face, delivered a dominant 25-17 win while hitting .273, behind six kills by Frey, with Vestal adding three blocks and Margo Hernandez chipping in seven digs and five assists.

Taylor (16-7, 7-4 CL) travels to face Grace (12-11, 5-6 CL) on Wednesday, October 15 looking to continue its momentum in Crossroads League play.