Courtesy of Midland Athletics
OMAHA, Neb. – No. 17 Midland University opened Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) play Saturday evening with a five-set road win over the College of Saint Mary (25-21, 24-26, 27-25, 24-26, 15-9).
The Warriors and Flames traded momentum throughout the night, with Midland coming out on top in the decisive fifth set.
The opening set saw Midland jump ahead early, winning three of the first four points. CSM battled back to tie it at 7-7, but the Warriors responded with a 6-1 run to take control. They held off the Flames the rest of the way to secure a 25-21 win.
The second set was a seesaw early, with both teams trading small runs. After five ties, Midland led 19-17 before CSM answered with a late push. The Flames tied the set multiple times down the stretch before closing it out 26-24 to even the match.
CSM carried that momentum into the third set, taking a 9-3 lead early. Midland slowly chipped away, eventually tying the score at 19-19. After four more ties, the Warriors prevailed in extra points, 27-25.
The Flames came out strong in the fourth set, using a seven-point run to build an 8-3 lead. They maintained the advantage most of the way before Midland rallied to tie it at 23-23. After trading points, back-to-back scores from CSM earned them a 26-24 win, forcing a fifth set.
In the deciding set, Midland led 8-5 at the switch before CSM tied it at 9-9, prompting a Warriors timeout. Out of the break, Midland scored six straight points to close out the set 15-9 and claim the match.
Abree Plueger led the way with a match-high 24 kills, hitting .310 on the night. Joining her in double figures were Brooklynn Snyder with 17 kills and Cameran Jansky with 11. Jaysa Wentzlaff dished out 31 assists, while Brena Mackling added 24 assists along with five kills.
Mackling also contributed 15 digs, while libero Delainey Cast led the team with 25. Plueger (15) and Snyder (11) also reached double-digit digs.
Defensively, Midland tallied nine total blocks. Jansky had six total blocks (five assists, one solo), while Lauren Williams recorded three block assists. Plueger, Abby Spidle and Macey Jackson each added two block assists.
At the service line, Midland finished with eight aces, led by two each from Snyder, Sydney Guthard and Lily Bolden.
“I told the team in the locker room that every GPAC game has the ability to be a grind, and tonight’s match lived up to that billing,” head coach Micah Rhodes said. “It was more of the same in terms of inconsistency with our serve and pass game — I just wish we could find a way to limit teams’ momentum runs and cut the bleeding quicker. Kudos to CSM for upping their serving pressure, hitting their zones and making us uncomfortable with first contact.
While I wish we would have passed better, we once again showed our resiliency and ability to battle when our ‘A game’ was missing in certain moments. We were able to pull from our past matches and use those experiences to push us across the finish line. Coming back from 16-7 in the third set to win in extra points is a testament to that.
Abree played an exceptional offensive game. To hit over .300 in her first conference match, on the road in a tough environment, shows that she’s a gamer. I loved Cam’s [Jansky] production on both sides of the ball. I’ve been challenging her to demand the ball more, and she did tonight.
Lastly, Syd had ice in her veins from behind the service line and really led the charge in some of our big runs in key moments, including serving the last five points of the match with an ace and forcing them out of system multiple times.”
Midland (6-5, 1-0 GPAC) will look to extend its two-match winning streak Wednesday when it hosts Mount Mary (6-4, 0-1 GPAC). First serve is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. inside the Wikert Event Center in Fremont, Nebraska.
