Saint Mary's started off its conference season on a sour note, losing at Trine in three straight sets.
The Belles lost the 25-17, 25-18 and 25-18, respectively, to drop the match, which was marred by a plethora of unforced errors from the visitors, who had trouble with serves all evening.
"Right from the beginning we came out and basically gave them seven of the first nine points of the match," Belles coach Toni Kuschel said. "We had way too many unforced errors all night and they really put us out of the match early."
While not pleased with her team's error-laden play, Kuschel gave the Thunder credit for a match well played.
"While we didn't play up to our potential, Trine really played a great match," Kuschel said. "They were in the game, ready to go from the start."
Trine took early leads of 5-2 and 8-4. The Belles battled back to pull the game within one point, but the Thunder answered with a 5-1 run to end the set.
The second set was all Trine, with the Belles trailing by at least five for the entirety of the game's final stretch. The third set was not much different for the home team, dominating from start to finish.
"We were too slow in transition today," Kuschel said. "We didn't play well on defense and missed way too many serves deep and long. We weren't aggressive enough on offense."
Though her team lost in straight sets, Kuschel was still able to take some positives from the contest.
"Though we didn't play well, we were able to pick up our intensity in [set] number three," Kuschel said. "We were able to do some good things and had a few bright moments here and there."
Overall, Kuschel said she believes her team can learn from the match against Trine.
"We need to take this as a learning experience," Kuschel said. "Now we know the level we have to play at to compete in this conference."
Saint Mary's travels to Albion for its second conference match on Saturday.
