Courtesy of Midland Athletics
FREMONT, Neb. – Day two of the Midland Showdown saw many excellent matches inside of the Wikert Event Center. The first match of the day saw No. 7 Viterbo University edge past No. 2 Corban University in five sets. Corban would rebound in its second match as they defeated No. 9 Midland University in three sets (25-22, 25-20, 25-20). Then in the final match of the night, Midland rebounded with a win in five sets over Grand View University (21-25, 18-25, 25-22, 25-15, 15-10).
Corban 3, Midland 0
The visitors from Salem, Oregon showed why they entered the season ranked No. 2 in the NAIA as they got past Midland in straight sets. They were able to take advantage of a young Warriors’ team that never quite got into a grove.
Set on saw the offenses have their best set of the match as Corban hit a blistering .455 while Midland hit a modest .205 against the stout defense of CU. MU scored the first three points and led all the way up to a 17-17 tie by CU. Back-to-back errors by the Warriors pushed the lead to the other side of the net and Corban held on for the three-point win, 25-22.
In the second, MU once again came out strong. They built a 10-6 lead ahead of a 7-1 run that put Corban in the driver’s seat. The Warriors were able to tie the set at 16-16 but never could regain the edge as CU took a commanding lead in the match, winning 25-20. They did so by holding MU to a .000 hitting percentage while mustering an attack mark of .188 as the defenses found their rhythm.
Midland battled to extend the match during the third as they led 12-18 following a nice 5-0 run that featured kills from Cortlyn Schaefer (2), Abbey Ringler, and Lauren Williams. The Warriors led all the way to a 16-16 tie before a 6-0 by CU. A three-point burst brought Midland close but the national runners-up from a year ago closed the door with back-to-back kills, winning 25-20.
“That’s a team that absolutely is going to be there at the end of the season,” said head coach Paul Giesselmann post-match. “They were the national runner-up last year and I don’t see any reason why they’re not a final four team again this year. The part that I’m disappointed in all three games, we’re sitting there 18-18, 19-19, and then we just made mistakes. For whatever reason, this team has to learn that they’ve got a chance to be pretty good.”
For the match, Midland hit .103 while Corban turned in .270 on the attack. Leading the way for MU were Williams and Addy Mosier with six kills each. Ringler and Schaefer were both held to just five kills in the match.
Defensively, Delanie Vallinch had a team-high six digs from her libero position while Saige Craven and Brielle Power each dug up four attacks. At the net, Midland had five total blocks with Lauryn Samuelson getting in on all but one of the stuffs.
Midland 3, Grand View 2
In the final match of the day, Grand View and Midland both came in looking for a split on the day. The Vikings began with a four-set loss to Missouri Baptist while the Warriors fell in three to Corban. Early on, it looked like Grand View would be the one earning that honor as they took the first two sets.
Set one saw GVU move in front with an early five-point run, making it 6-3. They held the Warriors at arm’s length the rest of the way as MU could only get within one at various points. The final time came at 19-18 before back-to-back points made it 21-18 and then 24-19. The Viking took a timeout after the Warriors scored two in a row and then closed out the set with a kill, 25-21.
The momentum spilled over into the second as GVU seemed to be a step ahead of Midland. They built a 5-2 lead that grew to 12-6 and then 19-9. The Warriors went on a 6-0 run to pull within four, 19-15, but the hole was too deep as Grand View responded by winning six of the final nine points to win 25-18.
Coming out of the set break, Midland looked to get back in the match but had its work cut out as GVU pined for its first win of the season. As the set progressed, the score was knotted six times up to 17-17. That’s when the Warriors found a spark and went on a 7-2 run. They withstood a three-point run near the end by the Vikings, winning set three by a score of 25-22.
The victory calmed the nerves of the young Midland team as they began to find their form in the fourth set. They used a 7-0 run to jump out to a commanding 14-5 lead and never looked back. The Warriors evened the match with a resounding 25-16 win.
Fans who stuck around for the late-night match were treated in the final set. On a couple of occasions, the teams went blow for blow with long rallies. After one such rally, a coach for the Vikings remarked across the net to Coach Giesselmann about the play of their two teams.
Riding the energy of winning those long rallies, Midland never allowed consecutive points by GVU until they had built a 14-7. Sitting on match point, the Warriors had a string of miscues that allowed the Vikings three straight points. The reverse sweep, winning the final three sets, was completed as Cortlyn Schaefer went cross-court with a kill off the set from Brena Mackling for the 15-10 win.
“It was a real struggle tonight and you have to give Grand View a lot of credit. I thought their girls continued to play with a lot of confidence as the match went on,” said Coach Giesselmann following the match. “They went up 2-0 on us but I was really proud of our players because they didn’t panic, they didn’t roll over, and in game three they had to really battle. Then, you could kind of see our confidence come back and I thought our serving and passing was much better. That was the big difference.”
“We’ve got a lot of experienced players on the floor that have been in big GPAC five-game battles and obviously numerous big matches at nationals,” added Coach Giesselmann of his team’s veteran core. “I think that helps in a situation like this where nothing is going right for you in a match, but you just got to find a way to get that first win and then get the match going from there.”
It was a balanced attack for the Warriors with four players with double-digit kills. Abbey Ringler led the way with 15 while Lauryn Samuelson, Jacki Apel, and Cortlyn Schaefer all had 11. Brena Mackling and Brielle Power each eclipsed the 20-assist plateau with 28 and 21 set assists, respectively.
At the net, Ringler had a big night with 11 block assists while Lauren Williams tallied an impressive 8 block assists as well. As a team, Midland had 15 total blocks.
In the back row, Delanie Vallinch dug up 21 balls while Kailyn Scott had 10 digs. Saige Craven was one dig shy of joining them in double figures.
Midland (3-1) will close out the showcase on Saturday with a noon match against No. 7 Viterbo (6-1). The other two matches on the final day will consist of No. 2 Corban taking on No. 8 Missouri Baptist at 9:30 a.m. and then CU facing Grand View at 2:30 p.m.
