Brette Thornton is playing in her fifth volleyball season at Trinity University and during the span she has witnessed iterations of the team.

There has been a season when the nationally ranked Tigers have leaned on All-American outside hitters. There has been a season when they rode their nation-leading blocking. And there has been a season when senior leadership was the driving force.

With the heart and soul — Emily Ellis, Sara Flynn and Sarah Williammee — of last year’s squad that fell one win shy of capturing the NCAA Division III national championship graduated and a bunch of new faces arriving, the most intriguing question centered around what the Tigers would look like.

The answer, not surprisingly, has been a familiar one. The Tigers are still a contender for the title. Trinity (28-4) opens play in the NCAA Division III tournament when it takes on Wittenberg University (Ohio) at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in Mount Berry, Georgia.

“Every team has been different,” Thornton said. “We have different things that motivate, we have different things that are strengths and weaknesses. It’s kind of fun trying to figure things out and use that to our advantage.”

While the Tigers might not have as much experience overall as a year ago, there’s no denying the talent. Seniors Mackenzie Logan, Maddie Fate, Marisa Amarino and Thornton were named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Region 10 first team.

Logan was the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) player of the year, Amarino was the top setter and Fate and Thornton made the first team.

“We’re all very competitive,” Thornton said. “We hate losing more than we like winning.”

The results reflect as much. Trinity has won 24 of its last 25 matches since a 4-3 start. The setbacks were to No. 3 Wisconsin-Oshkosh (34-1), No. 8 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (22-5), Tufts (14-10) — which was ranked No. 17 at the time — and Colorado College (18-11). The Tigers avenged the loss to Colorado College, prevailing in a sweep in the SCAC tournament final on Nov. 11 at Southwestern University in Georgetown.

“Despite that pressure, I don’t think any of us expects us to be perfect,” Trinity senior libero Nadia Kern said. “Nobody expects us to put a ball down every time we get set or get a block every time we have the opportunity. That’s just not the reality of volleyball. We’re really good at moving on to the next point. We’ve built a really strong mentality over the years. And even when new people come in, I think they adopt that pretty quickly.”

This year’s newcomers are headlined by New Braunfels Canyon graduate Courtney Pope, Connelly McWilliams from Austin and former Boerne Champion standout Marissa Drange, a sophomore who transferred from Division I Idaho. Those players’ impact, along with those of returnees from last season such as Reagan Whatley, Jenna Rodriguez and Jozie Dhayer, has been crucial to the Tigers reloaded for another run at a national crown.

“The team culture is so amazing,” Drange said. “They welcomed me with nothing but open arms. (Coach) Julie (Jenkins) holds us to a really high expectation, and I love that because I think she’s constantly pushing us to be better. That’s part of the reason why I came here. I think a lot of the girls on our team could have gone D-I, but we’re at a great academic institution, and that was very important to me.”

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