Palos Heights, Ill. - It was a heavyweight fight inside DeVos Gymnasium on Thursday night. Trinity Christian College men's volleyball (11-8, 3-4 CCAC) almost delivered the knockout blow leading 24-22 in the fourth set. Calumet College (9-4, 4-3 CCAC) stormed back, before eventually taking the set, 28-26. In the fifth set, the Crimson Wave held on, 16-14, and snapped the Trolls five game winning streak. 

Despite the loss, sophomore Alex Costa put together another sensational performance. He went for 27 kills and added six digs. Calumet's freshman Francis Hauze was a problem. He had 26 kills, including the final kill of the night to give the Crimson Wave the win. 

The Crimson Wave's entire roster is made up of freshman. They started off the first set with plenty of energy. They led 20-15 before the Trolls began to mount a comeback. A kill from sophomore Mike Hay, followed by two blocks from senior Jake Ostema made it 20-18. Calumet College called timeout, regrouped, and fended off the Trolls attack. They took set one, 25-23.

Trinity Christian College came out in the second set and continued to battle. The score was either tied, or within one point, until the Trolls took a 17-15 lead on a Calumet service error. A huge swing from sophomore Bartlomiej Maciczak gave the Trolls a 22-17 lead. Costa ended the second set with a kill, 25-22, and the Trolls evened the match at one.

In set three, Trinity pulled out to a 16-10 lead when Costa hammered home another kill. Hay extended the lead to 22-14 on a kill and Trinity went into set four after a 25-19 win in the third set. Hay had a stellar night, he went for a career high 18 kills. 

In the fourth set, Ostema absolutely took over. A kill, followed by two consecutive blocks gave the Trolls a 23-18 advantage. Calumet called timeout though and worked the score to 24-22. A kill from the Crimson Wave's Steven Gutierez made it 24-23. It was a Trolls attack error to tie the score at 24. Calumet had chances to win at 25-24 and 26-25 but kills from Costa and Hay tied the score each time. At 27-26, Calumet forced a fourth set on a Trolls attack error.

In set five, Calumet took a 7-5 lead. The Trolls though took an 11-9 lead on a service error and an Ostema kill. Calumet came back and tied the score at 11. Calumet eventually took a 14-13 lead but the Trolls called timeout and Costa hammered home a kill to tie the score at 14. Gutierrez and Hauze each had a kill to end the night, 16-14, and Calumet took the match in five sets. 

NOTES & NUMBERS: 

• It's been a remarkable season for Costa. He went for 27 kills. It's the fifth time hes reached 20 or more kills. He's averaging 4.39 kills/set and doing it with an impressive .323% attack percentage.
• Ostema was doing it on both offense and defense. He had 12 kills and nine blocks. His nine blocks were a season high and he's now at 240 blocks for his career.
• Hay's 18 kills were a season high. It's the fourth time he has reached 10 or more kills this year.
• Sophomore Ryan Schmidt had a double-double. He had 30 assists and a career high 14 digs.
• Senior libero Adam Becker added 13 digs to help the Trolls defense. 

UP NEXT: The Trolls return to DeVos Gymnasium for another non-conference Friday night matchup. Trinity will host Missouri Baptist University at 7:00 p.m. tomorrow, March 4th.