Parrett and Faulkner Hit 1,000 as TU Sweeps Spring Arbor at Home
UPLAND, Ind. – On a night when Taylor seniors, Nikki Parrett and Arlanda Faulkner, hit 1,000-career milestones, the No. 13 Taylor Trojans (20-5, 9-2 CL) swept Spring Arbor (10-12, 1-10 CL) inside Odle Arena by a score of 25-9, 25-19, 25-9.
Parrett, a fifth-year senior defensive specialist, entered play Wednesday just two digs shy of 1,000 for her career, while Faulkner sat just three away from 1,000-career kills before the night’s competition. Each Trojan hit her milestone before the end of set one, a period of play in which Taylor outkilled the Cougars 13 to three.
Faulkner, a TU transfer from North Carolina Central, hit 772 kills before sporting the purple-and-grey. Throughout her first season in Upland, Faulkner has averaged 2.55 kills-per-set, though she struck four in Taylor’s first set alone on Wednesday evening.
Meanwhile, Parrett partnered her two first-set digs with three service aces, the last of which capped Taylor’s opening-set win at a dominant score of 25-9.
Spring Arbor answered with a strong second-set performance, however, crafting an early 6-4 lead before Taylor worked a 9-9 tie. From there Taylor made its move, embarking on a 9-3 run and establishing an 18-12 lead, which morphed into a 25-19 set win. Along the way, Trojan outside hitters, Ryan Czerniak and Anna Frey, led the charge, each posting four kills in the second set alone.
The third-and-final set unfolded in much the same way as set one, with the two sets’ scores matching at 25-9. Though, in Wednesday’s final set, Taylor created a spacious 20-3 lead, thanks to a 10-0 run throughout which Faulkner and Jaylynn Dunsmore each struck three kills apiece.
Faulkner finished her career night with 10 total kills in 14 attempts while failing to record a single error. All of that resulted in Faulkner’s highest single-match hitting percentage of the season with a mark of .714.
Meanwhile, Wednesday marked the eighth time that Czerniak has surpassed a single-match hitting percentage of .500 thus far in 2022. The lefty right-side hitter struck 11 kills while making just two errors in 16 total attempts. Czerniak continues to boast the nation’s best percentage on the season, which currently reads .427.
Only one Trojan in program history has posted a better hitting percentage in a single season, Laurel Kinzer, who maintained a .439 percentage throughout the 1988 season.
TU setter, Kacy Bragg, continued to work her magic with the set, recording an impressive 11 assists in set one before scratching 15 more into the scorebook in each the second and third sets. Bragg finished the night with 41 assists, now averaging the nation’s fourth-best mark of 11.04 assists-per-set.
Freshman libero, McKaylah Flagle, led the Trojans with 10 digs, while Parrett finished her career night with a team next-best seven digs.
At the end of the night, Taylor was simply fun to watch. Nearly 300 TU faithful watched the Trojans improve to 11-0 inside Odle Arena while outkilling the Cougars 45-19.
No. 13 Taylor (20-5, 9-2 CL) will now enjoy a weekend of rest, before traveling to Winona Lake, Indiana, on Wednesday, October 12, for a 7:00 pm matchup with Grace (8-13, 3-7 CL).