SEWARD, Neb. – Midland University ended a 10 day hiatus on Wednesday night as they hit the court for a Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) match at Concordia University. The match was the second meeting of the year between the Warriors and Bulldogs, and just like the first meeting, Concordia was able to take the match, winning in four sets (25-20, 25-18, 25-27, 25-18).
Miscues were the culprit for the Warriors once again as they committed 19 service errors and had just a .112 hitting percentage for the match. On the other side of the net, Concordia hit .198 from the attack and had an even dozen (12) service errors.
The time off between matches was very evident in the first game as both teams struggled to get kills offensively. The Warriors hit a match low -.030 as they had seven errors and just six kills. Concordia was able to shake off the rust towards the end but still had seven attacking errors in the set. The Bulldogs hit .182 with 13 kills.
In the second set Midland’s serving was the main culprit that led to Concordia taking a 2-0 lead in the match. The Warriors gifted the Bulldogs eight points with serves either long or into the net. At the net Midland improved slightly from the opener, flooring seven attempts while only committing five errors.
The third set was the Warriors best of the night statistically but it was Concordia’s as well. Midland had a match high 51 swings and converted on 19 of those attacks to hit .235. The Bulldogs hit .250 with 14 kills on 40 attempts.
Midland jumped out early in the set, taking a quick 5-0 lead and extending it to 17-11 before the Bulldogs mounted a comeback. They battled their way back to a 24-24 tie, staving off set point three times. Midland would take the set though thanks to back to back attack errors.
Set four saw the Bulldogs take the first two points and build their lead to as many as eight on multiple occasions. They would cruise to a 25-18 win to clinch the match. In the set the Bulldogs hit .233 with 13 kills. Midland had just eight kills with five errors, hitting .103 on the attack.
“There were times where we did not look good tonight,” said head coach Paul Giesselmann. “We self-inflict so many times. We had too many mistakes, both physical and mental, and some of that can be attributed to us not playing in a while. However some of that can’t happen whether you’ve played or haven’t played. We’ve been practicing and there’s just not an excuse for that. The self-inflicted errors can’t continue to happen. Give credit to Concordia. They have a really good team.”
The Warriors were led by Maggie Hiatt and Taliyah Flores offensively. Hiatt had a team-high 13 kills on 36 attempts while Flores floored 11 on 38 swings. Hope Leimbach had 25 set assists on the night and added a team-high 3 service aces.
Defensively Jaisa Russell was the lone Warrior with double figure digs. She had 10 on the night. At the net Midland had nine total team blocks. Lauryn Samuelson had a hand on four of those, including a pair of solo blocks.
Midland (2-4, 1-3 GPAC) will look to rebound from the loss next week. They are set to host Hastings (4-2, 3-1 GPAC) on Wednesday, October 7. That match could be up in the air as the Broncos announced a suspension of all athletic events, including practices on Monday. The hiatus is set to run until October 4. For any and all updates to the schedule, stay tuned to www.MidlandAthletics.com.
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