Courtesy of Midland Athletics
YANKTON, S.D. – Coming off a midweek win at home, No. 13 Midland University hit the road on Saturday for a Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) tilt with Mount Marty University. The Warriors earned the straight-set win over the Lancers, 25-17, 25-22, 26-24.
Mount Marty had a solid start to the match as they took an early 6-2 lead in the opening set. Things flipped toward Midland soon after as they battled back to a 10-10 and kept their streak going to a 13-10 lead. That advantage would hold as the set progressed toward a 25-17 win. In the opening frame, the Warriors hit .200 in the opening set while holding the home team to a sub-zero hitting percentage of -.091.
Set two saw Midland and Mount Marty trade points early on the way to a 5-5 tie. A 6-1 run by the Warriors gave them the edge once more. The Lancers kept battling as they pulled within a point after a 4-0 run and then pulled event an 18-18 with another four-point swing. They could never take the lead though. Midland used a 4-0 run of its own to take back control and took the set 25-22.
In the third, the teams were nearly even the entire way as there were 11 ties along the way. Mount Marty saw its biggest lead come at 9-6 following a three-point run and were on the cusp of sending the match to a fourth set as they led 24-23. A kill by Lauren Williams, followed by a block from Lauryn Samuelson and Cortlyn Schaefer flipped the set point to the Warriors. A misplayed ball off the serve from Emmalee Sheppard sealed the sweep, 26-24.
Williams led the way on the attack with 10 kills while Schaefer was next in line with 8. Brielle Power and Brena Mackling managed the attack at the setter position. Power led the team with 19 set assists while Mackling had 12 on the night.
Defensively, Delanie Vallinch had 20 digs from the back row. Kailyn Scott nearly joined her in double digits with eight.
At the net, the Warriors had 12 team blocks of the Lancers’ attack. Samuelson had a pair of solo stops with five block assists. Abbey Ringler, who was held in check on the attack with just five kills, had a hand on four total blocks in the middle.
“I was very pleased with the road sweep today,” commented head coach Paul Giesselmann after the match. “We spent a lot of time this past week working on our defense and it paid off today.”
Midland (7-5, 3-1 GPAC) will return home for the first of two straight high-profile conference matches inside the Wikert Event Center. The first test will come on Wednesday, September 20 when they host No. 9 College of Saint Mary (14-2, 3-1 GPAC). First serve is set for 7:30 p.m. in Fremont, Nebraska.
