Volleyball Opens Crossroads League Play with Road Sweep of Grace
WINONA LAKE, Ind. – The best start to a season since 2014 got even better for the red-hot Taylor volleyball team on Wednesday night, as the Trojans scored a hard-fought, three-set sweep at Grace in the Crossroads League opener for both squads.
The win improved TU to 7-1 on the season, moving the program to within a single win of matching an 8-1 beginning in 2014. The sixth-straight victory also matched the program’s longest win streak since midway through the 2018 campaign and was Taylor’s first win in Winona Lake since October 26 of 2016.
Taylor forced the issue all night in the 26-24, 28-26, 25-21 victory over Grace (3-2, 0-1 CL), tallying at least 16 kills in each of the three sets and piling up 19 more kills, four more aces and 15 more digs than the hosts throughout the match.
A trio of Trojans surpassed the double-digit kills plateau, led by 15 kills from Ryan Czerniak, who had just one miscue in 31 swings for a .452 percentage. Grace Isaacs was also on-target with a .400 clip and 12 kills, while Amanda Adams reached double figures yet again with 11 terminations.
Several other TU players made an impact in the victory, with Nikki Parrett going for 17 digs and two aces, Stephaney Fifield collecting 22 digs, Kacy Bragg ending with a 35-assist, 12-dig double-double and Jaylynn Dunsmore swatting a career-high five blocks.
Despite the lopsided stats in Taylor’s favor, the scoreboard showed a much closer contest from the opening serve, with all three sets featuring back-and-forth action with significant momentum swings.
In the opener, an ace from Fifield, kill from Czerniak and two-straight Lancer errors sparked a 7-2 rally from the Purple and Gold to open a 17-12 cushion. The lead held until a late Grace rally knotted the margin at 24-24, only for a Parrett ace and Adams kill to seal the set-one win.
The second set neared its end with the score gridlocked at 18-18, before Grace grabbed leads of 22-19 and 24-22. This time, Taylor used multiple kills each from Czerniak, Isaacs and Adams to claw back into the set and got back-to-back kills from Nicki Sechrist and Parrett to steal the 28-26 win.
In the third, Grace raced to an 8-0 lead but saw Taylor roar back to draw even at 10-10. TU never slowed from there, pulling away for the 25-21 victory to complete the sweep.
Taylor (7-1, 1-0 CL) will head south to compete in the Truett-McConnell Tournament on September 3 and 4. TU is set to take on Fisk (0-4) and Brenau (1-3) on Friday, before challenging Keiser (3-12) and Truett-McConnell (1-3) on Saturday.
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