WHITING, Ind. – Trinity rallied to force a decisive fifth set on Tuesday night, but the late comeback push would fall just short as the Trolls fell on the road to Calumet, 25-19, 22-25, 25-23, 21-25, 15-13.

The Trolls (2-17, 1-8 CCAC) got off to a slow start as the home team scored the first three points of the opening set and would lead the rest of the way. Trinity posted a seven-point run midway through the first, highlighted by three aces from Shannon Simpson which cut the Calumet lead to 16-13, but the Crimson Wave (7-10, 3-6 CCAC) held on for the 25-19 win.

Trinity bounced back in game two, leading throughout most of the set. Calumet would score two straight to even the score at 19-19 late in the game, but Brooke Veldman would score back-to-back kills to put the Trolls back in front 22-19. Another kill from Grace Steenwyk and a block by Sarah Neighbors and Taryn Hinken closed out the game and evened the match at one set apiece.

A back-and-forth start to game three saw the Trolls take a narrow 7-6 lead, before Calumet went on to score eight of the next nine points, building a 14-8 advantage. Trinity came back with six in a row including two more aces from Simpson to tie the game, but again the Wave would pull away. Hinken's kill at 19-19 evened the score again before the home team took three in a row and five of the next seven points to move in front again. Veldman scored a pair of kills at set point, pushing the score to 24-23, but Calumet would close out the set on the next serve to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

The Trolls responded again, leading game four wire-to-wire to force a fifth set. Hinken helped give Trinity an early lead with an ace at 9-5, and Noonan's kill at 12-6 gave the Trolls their largest lead of the night. Three consecutive Calumet errors gave Trinity set point at 24-20, and the Trolls secured the win with a service error two plays later.

In the final set, Trinity took the lead with a three-point rally capped with a block from Hinken and Dej'a Williams to go up 6-3. Calumet took control however, scoring an 8-1 run to lead 11-7. The Crimson Wave secured match point at 14-10, and a pair of attacking errors as well as a kill from Veldman closed the gap to 14-13 but the Trolls were unable to complete the comeback.

Veldman led the Trinity attack with 16 kills and a .412 attacking percentage. Steenwyk registered a team-high 22 assists, while Emma Dykstra picked up a double-double with 15 assists and 10 digs. Cecilia Zuniga led the defense with 23 digs on the night.

The Trolls return home for this weekend's Troll Classic, taking place on Friday and Saturday, October 7-8. Trinity will play in four of the event's 12 matches, beginning on Friday at 3:00 p.m. against Knox (Ill.).