Courtesy of Midland Athletics
FREMONT, Neb. – It was a matchup of two of the top teams from the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) and the nation on Wednesday night as the No. 13-ranked Midland University hosted the No. 9-ranked College of Saint Mary. The Warriors used the energy of their home fans as they swept past the Flames (25-23, 25-8, 25-23) in straight sets. The win improves Midland to 4-1 on the GPAC and to 8-5 on the season while CSM falls to 14-2 and 3-2.
The opening set was as advertised as the two highly-ranked teams went toe-to-toe. The Flames netted the first two points of the contest and held the edge up to a deadlock at 8-8. A miscue on the attack from CSM, followed by a block from the duo of Lauren Williams and Lauryn Samuelson put the Warriors in the lead. An ace serve from Brielle Power, one of six by the team on the night, got things rolling for the home team.
CSM battled back, forcing four ties before taking the lead back at 17-15, prompting a timeout from the Midland sideline. The Flames would maintain their edge up to 20-17 before a massive 7-1 rally by the Warriors. Sitting on set point, Midland gifted back-to-back points to bring CSM to within one. An attack error by the Flames ended their bid for a comeback as the Warriors took the set, 25-23.
During the set break, the Warriors caught a spark as the teams swapped sides of the net as they ignited in the second. Behind solid serving and a stout block defense at the net, Midland jumped out to a commanding lead early.
After a 6-2 start, CSM used its first allotted timeout. The consultation on the sideline didn’t change much as Midland’s lead grew to 13-4 with Power at the service line, which led to the final timeout from the Flames. The lead grew even more after the break as Midland strung together a 10-0 run.
Firmly in control of the set, MU closed out the second with a 5-0 run which featured a pair of ace serves from Brena Mackling. For the set, Midland hit an impressive .444 on the attack while holding CSM to a -.108 hitting percentage thanks in part to seven combined blocks.
Not one to go down without a fight, the Flames started the third strong. They moved out in front 10-6 ahead of a Midland timeout.
After the huddle, the Warriors were able to refocus and start reeling in the deficit. Back-to-back kills from Abbey Ringler knotted the game 15-15 and then a kill from Jessie Moss gave MU a lead they would not relinquish.
Down the stretch, Midland got five blocks. The final one put them on match point but the pesky Flames flickered back to within a point with three straight scores behind a kill, service ace, and attack error by MU. Following a timeout, Lauren Williams clinched the sweep with a kill, ending the third with a 25-23 score.
“It was a big win for us tonight. We’ve had a couple of days of great practice and I’m really proud of how we played tonight,” said head coach Paul Giesselmann. “This whole year we’ve been disappointed in our team’s defense. We’ve had stretches where we’re good but we’ve been so inconsistent. Tonight, for us to come out and be low-error and play great team defense, against a top-ten team was great to see. It all started with the serve and I thought that was the difference in the match.”
For the match, Midland had 17 total blocks as a team, setting a new high for the season and the most since 2019 when they had 23 blocks against CSM. Lauryn Samuelson had nine block assists while Lauren Williams had seven and Abbey Ringler had six.
At the service line, Brena Mackling finished with three aces while Brielle Power had two, and Emmalee Sheppard had one.
In the back row, Kailyn Scott and Delanie Vallinch both reached double-digit digs with 10 and 14, respectively. Saige Craven and Power were close behind with eight each.
Behind the setting of Power and Mackling, the Warriors hit .211 on the night with 36 kills. Power assisted on 17 while Mackling set up 12. At the end of the sets were Williams with nine kills, Ringler with eight, and Jessie Moss with seven. Cortlyn Schaefer and Jacki Apel each had five kills while Samuelson had two to round out the balanced attack.
“We had a great crowd tonight which makes a huge difference in the match,” added Coach Giesselmann. “CSM is a well-coached team and is ranked in the top ten for a reason. At the end of the season, when it comes to selection time, this is a win that is going to help us.”
Midland (8-5, 4-1 GPAC) will look to keep things going with another tough test this weekend. No. 3-ranked Northwestern (12-1, 4-1 GPAC) comes to Fremont on Saturday for an important conference match. The first serve is slated for 3:00 p.m. inside the Wikert Event Center on September 23.
