OMAHA, Neb. – Midland University made the short trip to the campus of College of Saint Mary for a Friday night Great Plains Athletic Conference battle. The Warriors were unable to claim the regular-season sweep of the Flames, falling in straight sets by scores of 25-21, 25-16, 25-21.
Midland drops to 8-8 on the year with a 7-7 record in the GPAC while CSM improves to 9-10 overall and 4-10 in the league.
Midland struggled to find a rhythm offensively, hitting .121 as a team. CSM managed to hit .243 on the night. CSM out-blocked Midland 8-6. The Flames were scrappy on defense from the jump and recorded 62 digs compared to 52 for the Warriors. Individually, Taliyah Flores was the lone Warriors with double-figure kills after putting away 14 and hitting .324. Sydney Morehouse followed with nine kills while Maggie Hiatt contributed six. Hope Leimbach dished out 35 assists. Flores led Midland with 16 digs—securing her eighth double-double of the year. Jaisa Russell followed with 15 digs and a team-best three aces.
The Flames forced the Warriors out of system in the early points of the first set, forcing an MU timeout with Midland down 5-2. Out of the timeout, Flores pounded a kill down the line to bring things to 5-3. The Flames were tough on defense, both at the net and in the backcourt, converting several digs for points to go up 10-3. A kill from Morehouse saw Midland in double-figures, but CSM remained ahead at 15-10. The Warriors struggled to stay in system as an ace had them trailing 19-14. The Warriors fought off four set points, forcing a CSM timeout, but ultimately dropped the opener by a score of 25-21.
The momentum carried into the second set as Midland jumped out to a 6-2 lead. The Flames came roaring back. Narrowing Midland’s lead to 9-8. A block from Lauryn Samuelson and Leimbach brought Midland’s lead to 12-8. CSM captured their first lead of the set as a well-placed tip found space down the line—pushing the score to 15-13. The Flames continued to collect points, going up 18-13 and leading to a Midland timeout. The struggles continued for the Warriors, and a CSM kill led to a 25-16 set win.
The Warriors saw a 4-3 lead in the third set after a tough serve from Russell was too much to handle. Hiatt would place a kill just over the opposing block, giving Midland a 9-7 edge. The CSM outside hitter found a kill off the block to tie things up at 13-13. Back-to-back points for the Flames saw the score shift to 15-13. Midland was able to tie the score at 15-15 before a three-point run had CSM up 18-15. CSM used the block for a kill, giving the Flames match point, but a kill from Samuelson extended the match. Despite a late scoring run, the Warriors would ultimately fall by a score of 25-21.
“This is a very disappointing loss for us because we have been playing some really high-level volleyball for the last four weeks,” said head coach Paul Giesselmann after the match. “Tonight doesn’t surprise me though as we had some of our worst practices of the year the past few days. We weren’t focused and it got us. How you prepare is going to dictate how you play a lot of times and we just didn’t prepare well enough for tonight’s match. That’s on me as a coach. Credit goes to CSM as well. They played with a lot of emotion in the first set after they unveiled their banner. We’ve got to be able to withstand that and then get back to playing our game.”
Midland (8-8, 7-7 GPAC) will look to rebound in a Tuesday night road contest versus Mount Marty University. The Warriors topped the Lancers 3-1 (25-18, 25-15, 24-26, 25-16) when the teams met on October 27.
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