Courtesy of Midland Athletics
FREMONT, Neb. – With the regular season winding down, No. 4 Midland University hosted No. 12 College of Saint Mary on Wednesday inside the Wikert Event Center. Playing their final regular season match, the Warriors won in straight sets over the Flames on Senior Night (25-18, 25-16, 25-17). With the victory, Midland moves to 22-3 on the year and 12-2 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC). CSM falls to 17-7 overall and 7-7 in the conference.
Prior to the match, the Warriors honored this year’s senior class consisting of Brooke Fredrickson, Taliyah Flores, and Hope Leimbach along with their families. The trio has been key figures in the Midland program since they arrived on campus.
The Warriors looked dialed in from the start, building a 14-9 lead in the opening set. They did so behind the underclassmen on the team who wanted to ensure the seniors were honored correctly. In the first, freshman Addison Mosier and sophomore Abbey Ringler each had three kills. Flores added three herself, including the final two as Midland won 25-18.
Set two saw the Flames turn on the gas as they jumped out in front 5-1, prompting a timeout from the Warriors’ bench. After two more points by the visitors, Midland took over the set. A 5-0 run brought them back into arm’s length and then a 10-1 run cooled any hopes CSM had of evening the match. Savanna Berger and Lauren Williams had two kills down the stretch and then with set-point on the line, Leimbach took advantage of an overpass from the Flames and capped off the 25-16 victory with a thunderous kill that ignited the crowd.
The momentum spilled over into the third set as the Warriors built a 7-1 lead that grew to 16-8 before the Flames used a timeout. They were able to regroup and go on a 6-1 run to pull within four points, 18-14, but there was no stopping Midland from completing the sweep. Sitting on match-point, Saige Craven closed the book on the match with an ace serve, 25-17.
For the match, Midland hit .333 on the attack behind the setting by Leimbach (39 assists). Mosier was on the receiving end of the majority of her sets, capitalizing on 14 kills to lead the team. Ringler was next in line with nine while Flores had eight.
At the net, the Warriors out-blocked the Flames six to four. Ringler had a pair of solo stops and assisted on two others. In the back row, Delanie Vallinch had a match-high 14 digs. Flores added 12 to her stat line.
“I was really proud of our team’s effort offensively tonight,” said head coach Paul Giesselmann after the match. “We have been really harping on them over the last month that we’ve got to get better offensively and I give the girls a lot of credit because they’ve been doing the things we’ve asked of them. Tonight, on Senior Night, against a really well-coached CSM team we executed as a team. For us to hit .333 and be low-error was really impressive against the No. 12 team in the country. We’ve got two matches left. We’ve got to continue to work on things and get better.”
Midland (22-3, 12-2 GPAC) will travel to take on Doane (8-23, 1-13 GPAC) this weekend in Crete, Nebraska. The teams played a four-set match won by the Warriors earlier in the season. Midland will look to complete the season sweep on Saturday, October 29. First serve is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. inside the Haddix Center.
