Courtesy of Midland Athletics
FREMONT, Neb. – Playing at home during homecoming week for the first time since 2020, No. 17 Midland University took on Mount Marty University to cap off Saturday’s events on campus. The Warriors dropped the opening set before taking the next three to defeat the Lancers (23-25, 25-10, 25-14, 25-13).
Mount Marty came into the opening set with great energy as they went swing for swing with Midland. A four-point advantage by the Warriors quickly evaporated as the Lancers went on a 7-1 run to take control near the midway point of the set. They did so with the help of five errors by MU.
As the Warriors battled back, a second surge by the Lancers ensued. Another 7-1 run, with all but one point coming from their offense, put them up 21-16. They withstood a micro run by Midland, holding on for the 25-23 win.
In the second set, the Warriors started to clean up their errors. That translated in a big way as they sprinted out to a 14-4 lead early. The run was aided by miscues from the Lancers’ side of the net as they committed four attack errors during a 7-0 run.
Leading by a large margin, Midland kept its focus as they added a 6-1 run to go up 21-7 and closed out the set, 25-10. MU had 10 kills in the second with just one miscue on the attack, hitting .346 as a team.
The momentum and focus carried over into the third as the Warriors had 12 kills against no errors while hitting a match-best .571. Mount Marty rebounded from its dismal -.114 hitting in the second to strike for a .143 percentage in the third.
With both offenses producing, the teams went back and forth early on. After Midland went up 10-5, Mount Marty clawed back with a four-point run to make it 13-10. With the Warriors not scoring for their opponents, that would be all the closer they got as MU took the set 25-14.
In the third, six different Warriors had a kill. Cortlyn Schaefer and Abbey Ringler led the way with three each while Lauryn Samuelson and Jessie Moss had two. Jacki Apel and Lauren Williams had one each.
The fourth, and what would become the final set, saw a 7-0 run to start for Midland. That lead continued to grow as the Lancers began to fade down the stretch. A five-point run, that saw a pair of kills from Apel, made it 22-10. Apel would add another to her tally before Samuelson closed the book with a kill to make it 25-13.
For the match, the Warriors hit .286 as a team with 47 kills against 13 errors. Coordinating the offense for the majority of the match were Brena Mackling and Brielle Power. Mackling had a team-high 25 set assists while Power added 16.
The offense was well-balanced with just two attackers reaching double figures. Schaefer led the way with 11 while Ringler had 10. Rounding out the top five were Apel with nine, followed by Samuelson and Williams with seven each.
Defensively, at the net Midland had 10 team blocks. Getting in on four of them, including a pair of solo stuffs, was Samuelson. In the back row, Delanie Vallinch and Kailyn Scott each had solid matches. Vallinch led the team with 14 digs while Scott added 12.
Another area where the Warriors excelled was at the service line. As a team they had 12 ace serves, setting a new season high. Vallinch led the way with five aces while Mackling had four, Claire Johnson had two, and Jessie Moss added one.
“I think the team was very disappointed with the way they came out and started the match and played in the first set,” said head coach Paul Giesselmann after the match, “You’ve got to give Mount Marty credit because I thought they were really ready to play. They dominated us in the first set.”
“I thought our players showed a lot of composure after the break. I told them ‘this is us’, we’ve got to have a good serving game, set up our defense, and then get the ball to our middles,” added Coach Giesselmann on the adjustments made in the break. “We were able to do that in sets two, three, and four. After having nine hitting errors in the first, we had four in the final three. That shows how much we’ve grown as a team. We’ve got to put this win in the bank, and look to get better on Monday and Tuesday as we prepare for a big opportunity against a top-ten team on Wednesday.”
Midland (12-9, 8-5 GPAC) will travel into Omaha to face the College of Saint Mary (21-5, 9-4 GPAC) next. The No. 9-ranked Flames had a huge win on Saturday as they took down No. 1 Concordia on the road. First serve on Wednesday is set for 7:30 p.m. inside the Lied Fitness Center.
