Courtesy of Midland Athletics
FREMONT, Neb. – No. 17 Midland University was back inside the Wikert Event Center on Wednesday night, hosting Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) rival Doane University. After a two-week absence from their home court, the Warriors looked unsettled early as they dropped the first set. Doane nearly forced a decisive fifth, but a furious late rally by Midland erased a 10-point deficit to close out the match in four sets (22-25, 26-24, 25-19, 27-25).
The final set saw Midland storm back from a 19-9 deficit, staving off three set points before sealing the win in thrilling fashion.
Doane caught Midland off guard in the opener, keeping pace point for point. The teams traded ties through 7-7 before the Warriors surged ahead, 12-8. Doane fought back, eventually taking a 20-18 lead. Each time Midland closed the gap, the Tigers had an answer and held on for a 25-22 win.
The second set was a back-and-forth battle. Doane jumped ahead 3-1 before Midland countered to go up 7-5. From there, the longtime GPAC rivals traded blows with 12 ties, the last at 20-20. Kills from Brooklynn Snyder and Avery Crouch pushed the Warriors ahead, but Doane clawed back to tie at 22-22 and 24-24. Abree Plueger gave Midland set point, and Macey Jackson finished the job with a kill for a 26-24 win.
With momentum on their side, the Warriors controlled the third. After three early ties, a four-point rally put Midland ahead for good. They stretched the margin late, reaching set point at 24-16. Doane held off elimination briefly with three straight points, but Jackson slammed down a kill off an overpass to secure the set, 25-19.
The Tigers responded in the fourth, jumping out to a 10-5 lead that grew to 19-9. Midland’s underclassmen sparked the comeback, led by defensive sub Huston Rau. Two aces from Rau highlighted a 6-0 surge, forcing a Doane timeout. With Rau still serving, three more points pulled the Warriors within striking distance.
Trailing 24-21, Midland fended off three set points. Jackson and Tori Walker delivered clutch plays, with Walker’s tough serving pushing Doane out of rhythm. After the Tigers earned a fourth set point, kills from Jackson and Cameran Jansky flipped momentum, and Rau capped the rally with the winning kill for a 27-25 finish.
“This is why we emphasize the team aspect in our program,” head coach Micah Rhodes said. “Not everyone can be on every night. I need to have confidence, the team needs to have confidence, and the subs have to have confidence in themselves to come in and do the job. At the end of the fourth set, we had four freshmen in during that tight moment. Tori served three straight points while Doane was on set point. It would’ve been easy for her to get nervous, but she stepped up and delivered.”
“This is our team right now: a lot of inconsistencies,” Coach Rhodes added. “At the end of the day, I’m happy we got a win against a really good GPAC opponent. Everybody brings their best against us, and that’s the pressure of being a top-three team in the GPAC. We need to make sure we can handle that.”
Midland’s balanced attack was guided by setters Brena Mackling and Jaysa Wentzlaff, who tallied 28 and 21 assists, respectively. The Warriors hit .208 as a team with 61 kills.
Snyder led with 15 kills, followed by Plueger with 12. Jackson finished with nine, Jansky eight, Lauren Jones seven, and Crouch six.
Defensively, Sydney Guthard led the way with 17 digs, several coming in the fourth-set rally. Claire Johnson joined her in double figures, while Wentzlaff and Plueger chipped in six each.
Midland (9-6, 4-1 GPAC) will look to build on the midweek win as it hosts No. 24 Dakota Wesleyan (9-6, 3-2 GPAC) on Saturday. First serve is set for 5 p.m. at the Wikert Event Center in Fremont. The match is part of Homecoming Weekend and Alumni Day for the Midland volleyball program.
