ANGOLA, Ind. – The Calvin University men's volleyball team lost its battle for first place in a back-and-forth four-set match at Trine University on Wednesday night by the scores of 25-22, 26-28, 25-23 and 25-21.
 
The two teams entered the match tied atop the MCVL standings with matching 7-1 league records, with the winner clinching at least a share of the conference championship.
 
Trine (17-8, 8-1) led for much of the first set, but Calvin (20-4, 7-2) made a late run to close the deficit to 23-22 before the Thunder won the final two points to take the set 25-22. Gabriel Laughlin (Grand Rapids, Mich./West Michigan Aviation Academy) led Calvin with five kills.
 
The second set went back and forth with 10 ties and four lead changes. The Thunder looked primed to take a 2-0 overall lead with leads of 23-18 and 24-21 late in the set, but Calvin fought off three set points to tie the set at 24-24, and then two more set points at 25-24 and 26-25 before winning the final three points with the help of two kills by Daniel Rua (Medellin, Colombia/Colegio Canadiense) to take the set 28-26 and tie the match at 1-1. Rua and Brady Gudauskas (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) each recorded five kills in the set for Calvin.
 
The Thunder started strong and led the third set 16-11 before a furious Calvin rally tied the set at 20-20 late, The Knights fought off two set points after trailing 24-21, but the Thunder closed the set with the final point to take a 2-1 overall lead. Laughlin added four kills to his total in the set while Gudauskas added three more.
 
Trine took control of the fourth set midway through, breaking open a 14-14 tie with an 8-3 run to lead 22-17 before fighting off one final late Calvin rally to win the set 25-21 and take the match.
 
Laughlin led the Calvin attack on the night with 17 kills and a .364 attack efficiency, while Rua joined him in double figures with 12 kills.
 
Ezekiel Jalan (Oconomowoc, Wis./Arrowhead) recorded a team-high 33 assists to go with two service aces and nine digs. Brantley Tiede (Lowell, Mich./Lowell) led the team with 16 digs while Gudauskas finished with 15 digs to go with nine kills.
 
COACH'S COMMENT: "What a battle," Calvin head coach Aaron Sagraves said. "Both teams gave everything they had and it was everything you wanted to decide a regular season championship. I cannot be more proud of our guys for continuing to believe we can be here and battle against the best. We are looking forward to next week in the conference tourney."
 
NEXT UP: Calvin men's volleyball has finished the regular season and will return to action next Friday (April 10) when it plays in the semi-final round of the MCVL Tournament. The tournament will be hosted by either Trine or Wittenberg University.