Courtesy of Midland Athletics
FREMONT, Neb. – It was round number three between No. 4 Midland University and (RV) Hastings College on Saturday night in the quarterfinals of the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Tournament. The two teams split their regular-season matches with each winning in five sets on their home floor. In the bumper match, it was the second-seeded Warriors earning the straight-set win (25-23, 25-21, 25-21) over the seventh-seeded Broncos.
The first set saw sustained runs by each side to start before back-and-forth play. Midland opened with a 3-0 run only to see Hastings respond with a 4-0 run for the first of six lead changes. There were also 11 ties with the last coming at 21-21.
After that, the Warriors went on a 3-0 run, putting them on set point. After giving up back-to-back points to the Broncos, Taliyah Flores closed out the set with a kill off an assist from Hope Leimbach. The duo continued their connection in the second.
It was back-and-forth with multiple ties once more in set number two. Hastings held an 11-9 run midway through before Midland went on its biggest run of the match up to that point. Six straight points, three via errors by their opponents, put them in the driver’s seat up 15-11.
Hastings tried their best to even the score but only got as close as 20-19 before the Warriors went on a 5-2 run to close. In the at stretch, Flores racked up four kills before Lauryn Samuelson put the finishing touches on the 25-21 win with a kill of her own.
The third set saw Midland battle back from an early 3-0 deficit with a five-point run that features a pair of kills by Addisyn Mosier. Hastings would regain the lead at 9-8 and grew their lead to 17-13 before a timeout by the Warriors. They would get one more point before Midland came storming back into the set.
Trailing 18-13, the Warriors went on an 8-1 run before the Broncos used their first timeout. The interruption was minor as Midland ran away with the set, winning 25-12 and securing the sweep. Flores was huge in the rally with seven kills.
For the game, she had a match-high 21 kills. Her most in the three-set game this season and second-most in a match. She had 22 the last time these teams met, a five-set thriller back on October 19.
Leimbach had 39 assists in the match as she spread the ball to five different attackers who all had at least four kills. Mosier finished the night with 12, while Savanna Berger had five kills. Samuelson and Lauren Williams each had four, as did Leimbach herself.
Defensively, Flores and Delanie Vallinch were clutch in the back row digging up the Broncos’ attack. They had 12 and 11 digs, respectively. At the net, the Warriors had seven blocks as a team. Williams and Berger were each in on three while Samuelson led the way with four.
“Just a great win for our team tonight. I was really proud of our kids as we had to tweak our lineup once again,” said head coach Paul Giesselmann. Midland was without its usual starting middle-blocker Abbey Ringler who was a game-time decision following an injury in practice this past week.
“We had to do this multiple times this year, with different lineups. Our kids just don’t panic about it,” added Coach Giesselmann. “I thought our passing and serving were the difference tonight. We were really good at getting Hastings out of system and that allowed our defense to score points. Now it’s time where we need to get rest, get healthy, and get ready to play again. We’ve got a top-five team coming in next week. We’re looking forward to the challenge and are thankful for the opportunity to play on our home floor once more.”
Midland (25-3) will host third-seeded and No. 5-ranked Concordia (22-4) next Wednesday with a spot in the GPAC Championship on the line. The two teams have met twice this year, with the Warriors winning a five-set match on the road and earning a sweep at home. First serve is set for Wednesday, November 9 at 7:00 p.m. inside the Wikert Event Center in Fremont. This will be the 11th appearance in the GPAC Semifinals for the Warriors under Coach Giesselmann who is in his 13th season leading the program.
