CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Down a key contributor, the 17th-ranked Salisbury University volleyball team fought to the bitter end of a 3-0 (25-14, 25-15, 25-17) loss to the 15th-ranked Trinity (Texas) Tigers in the second round of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament, hosted by MIT on Friday afternoon at Rockwell Cage.
After the Sea Gulls took three of the first four points, the Tigers locked in with the next five to go up 6-3. Leading 9-6 later, TU went on a 7-0 run to build it to 16-6. The margin was too great for SU to overcome and a kill from Taylor Starr locked it down, 25-14.
Trinity quickly built a 9-2 cushion in the second set, eventually pushing the margin to 17-7. SU responded with five in a row, using a pair of
Sophia Tapia aces to cut the deficit in half at 17-12, but the Tigers notched five of their own in a row to rebuild it to 22-12. Connelley McWilliams salted it away at 25-15 with a kill moments later.
The Sea Gulls faced another big deficit early, falling behind 18-7, before settling in and finding a rhythm. Facing match point at 24-11, SU rattled off six in a row, with Tapia contributing a kill and two blocks, forcing TU to call timeout. It was too little, too late, though, as Starr ultimately landed the kill to send the Tigers into the regional final, 25-17.
GAME NOTES
- Gwen Eustace landed a team-high eight kills (.462) with three blocks (two solo) in her final career match. She wraps up an All-America caliber season with 436 kills (3.35 K/S), 129 blocks (0.99 B/S), and an NCAA-best .511 hitting percentage.
- Eustace finishes her Sea Gull tenure with 1,151 kills and 424 blocks, good for ninth and third in program history, respectively. Her 436 kills for the campaign are eighth-most for any SU single-season hitter, while her 129 blocks go down as sixth-most.
- Sophia Tapia powered down five kills with five blocks (one solo) and two service aces. Her 136 blocks for the season are tied for fourth-most (Chelsea Glowacki, 2011) in Sea Gull lore.
- Kiley McTaggart contributed four kills, three blocks, and three digs.
- With All-Region setter Julie Altieri a late scratch due to illness, Beitris Boyreau-Millar was pressed into the starting role and dished out 17 assists with two digs. Before Friday, the redshirt freshman Boyreau-Millar had only played in one match in her collegiate career, taking the floor for one set on Oct. 4 against Wilkes.
- Sadie Wilkinson also filled in as a setter for the first two sets, contributing one assist and one kill. Wilkinson, a freshman outside hitter who had not played since Oct. 25 against Arcadia, had never before set in a competitive volleyball match at any level.
- Elizabeth Villegas ran down 10 digs, while Prudence Marco added nine.
- Salisbury hit .098 as a team for the match.
- The Sea Gulls outblocked Trinity by an 8-6 margin, this despite playing the third set with 5'3" Boyreau-Millar on the floor for the full rotation.
Salisbury finishes the 2025 season with a 29-7 record, good for the program's most wins since winning 29 in 2013. The Sea Gulls qualified for a fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament – a school first – and advanced to the second round for the third time in four years.
Salisbury University is a proud member of NCAA Division III with primary membership in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference, along with affiliate membership in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (football, men's & women's swimming), Coastal Lacrosse Conference (men's lacrosse), State University of New York Athletic Conference (field hockey), and Colonial Women's Golf Conference (women's golf). With over 500 student-athletes in 23 varsity sports, SU is recognized as one of the nation's most competitive intercollegiate athletics programs regardless of division, featuring dedicated coaches and staff that foster excellence on and off the field. The Sea Gulls have won a combined 23 team national championships, 24 individual national championships, and 206 conference championships, and have produced 53 Academic All-Americans.
To Make Tomorrow Yours at Salisbury University, and learn more about Sea Gull Athletics' tradition of excellence, visit SUSeaGulls.com or follow on social media @SUSeaGulls.
