Efficient Offense not Enough to Overcome No. 7 Indiana Wesleyan

MARION, Ind. – No. 22 Taylor dropped a hotly-contested match against cross-county rival No. 7 Indiana Wesleyan (12-3, 8-0 CL) on Saturday afternoon.

Despite being swept, the Trojans pushed the Wildcats, holing late leads in two of the three sets and having a pair of set points.

Taylor came into the match with determined focus and grabbed an early 5-1 lead behind kills from three separate Trojans. Ellie Frey extended the lead to a set-high 7-2 before IWU rattled off six-consecutive points to take the lead.

The squads went back-and-forth throughout the middle of the set until a 4-1 run forced a TU timeout trailing 21-19. The pause helped get the Trojans back into, taking three of the next five points, but the home team took the final two points to take the first stanza 25-22.

An early 6-1 run fueled by a pair of aces by Margo Hernandez, who also led the team with 21 assists and 11 digs, forced a timeout by the Wildcats with the scoreline showing an 8-5 lead for TU.

Four straight points by the home team briefly stalled the Trojans until Frey slammed home a pair of kills and added a block during a 5-1 run to regain the lead at 13-10. Indiana Wesleyan remained unfazed, delivering another 4-0 run to take the lead back once again.

The rivals continued to trade points before Frey and Shaye Watson struck back-to-back kills to give Taylor a 24-22 lead, with two set points on the horizon. IWU denied Taylor with a 3-0 run and eventually took the enthralling second 28-26.

The Trojans held a 12-9 advantage in the third set before a 3-0 run from the Wildcats turned tide and the match slowly slipped out of Taylor's control.

Indiana Wesleyan reeled off two more 3-0 runs in to take a 20-16 lead and force Erin Luthy to use a timeout. Luthy had to use her second timeout shortly after, when the Wildcats increased their advantage to 22-17 before finishing off the match.

The Trojans offense was dynamic hitting a balmy .234 in the match led by 16 kills from Frey. Taylor's trio of middle hitters, Alexa Mader, Daya Vestal, and Ruth Anderson combined for 13 kills on 19 swings with just a single error for an impeccable 0.632 hitting percentage.

No. 22 Taylor (14-6, 5-3 CL) caps the first half of Crossroads League play with a matchup against Bethel (13-8, 5-3 CL) on Wednesday, October 1, at 7:00 pm inside Odle Arena.