Trinity University senior middle blocker Maddie Fate could have accepted the outcome of the match a year ago had it simply been about playing an opponent that was just bigger, faster, stronger and better.

Yet when Fate looks back on that chilly mid-November 2022 night in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she remembers all the self-inflicted miscues — the deer-in-the-headlines-like slow starts and the attacking, blocking and serve-reception struggles.

Juniata swept Trinity 25-17, 25-11, 25-23 to capture the NCAA Division III national championship.

“No one wants to lose, but if you lose giving everything that you could, then you accept it,” Fate said. “The most disappointing thing about that was that we didn’t give it our all. We got a little frazzled and we freaked out, and we weren’t playing like us. We definitely, I don’t think, showed what we’re capable of.”

Trinity (31-4) gets a shot at redemption when it faces No. 1-ranked Juniata (32-0) in the first round of the national finals at 4 p.m. Wednesday in Claremont, California.

The Eagles, who are led by middle hitter Mackenzie Coley, setter Olivia Foley, libero Kiona Sky Rousset-Hernandez and outside hitter Audrey Muth — each an All-American — have won 59 consecutive matches since falling in four sets to Trinity on Sept. 16, 2022.

“At first, I was like, ‘Oh my god, they’re the No. 1 team. That’s crazy,’ ” Trinity senior outside hitter Mackenzie Logan said. “I think as it kind of set in, I got really excited because we got a chance to redeem ourselves.”

The rematch of last year’s national final is the second contest of an Elite Eight that some are saying might be the best in Division III history. New York University, John Hopkins, Hope (Michigan), Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (California), Wisconsin-Oshkosh and Northwestern-St. Paul (Minnesota) round out the field.

“There’s a lot of unfinished business on our end,” said Trinity setter Marisa Amarino, who is making her fourth trip to nationals. “I think it’s a great opportunity. We couldn’t get going on our side of the net (in 2022). We learned a lot from that, and I think that this season has been kind of building off of that.”

The Tigers have won 27 of 28 since a 4-3 start that included losses to fellow Elite Eight qualifiers Wisconsin-Oshkosh and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. They won 20 in a row at one point.

“This team is definitely not the same team that it was when we first started, and I think we take a lot of pride in that,” Amarino said.

And that growth, combined with a “we-hate-losing-more-than-we-like-winning” mindset that has drawn recruits from across the country, will be put to the test in the same venue that a year ago Trinity stunned unbeaten and No. 1-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps to advance to the national championships.

“I think it’s good that we’ve been there, we’ve played there,” Logan said. “I think we’re coming in with a certain level of confidence because of last year’s regionals. I think this year we’re more mentally prepared, more physically prepared.”

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