Lady Warriors Earn Four-Set Win over Doane

FREMONT, Neb. – After dropping three straight matches, Midland University got back in the win column on Saturday evening as they defeated Doane University in four sets (25-18, 27-25, 23-25, 25-22). The victory moves the Lady Warriors to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in Great Plains Athletic Conference play. The Tigers fall to 1-3 in the GPAC and 3-3 overall.
Despite seven service errors in each of the first two sets, the Warriors build a 2-0 lead and were on the cusp of their first sweep of the season. In the third, the errors subsided a bit at the service line but a handful of runs by the Tigers were too much to overcome. Doane would break a 20-20 to tie late in the set thanks to a pair of kills and a pair of Midland errors for the narrow 25-23 win.
In the fourth, it was the Warriors who found a groove. After falling behind 3-1 they would take control of the set, and the match, with a 10-1 run. Doane worked hard to tie the game and did so twice, but they were never able to take regain the lead as Midland closed out the match with a 25-22 win.
“We did not play at a very high-level tonight but still found a way to win when it counted,” said Midland head coach Paul Giesselmann afterward. “The serving was a struggle for everyone tonight. I thought our defense was pretty good and we had several hitters have pretty good games. We will get back to practice on Monday and keep working on getting better.”
As a team, the Warriors hit .211 on the match while limiting the Tigers to just .070. Sydney Morehouse and Maggie Hiatt led the way efficient nights. Morehouse had 17 kills on 39 swings, with just 3 errors, for a .359 hitting percentage. Hiatt equally as well hitting .360 with 12 kills on 25 attempts and 3 errors.
Lauryn Samuelson and Taliyah Flores joined the double-digit kill club with 13 and 11 kills respectively. Hope Leimbach coordinated the attack from her setter position, registering 55 set assists.
Defensively the Warriors were led by a pair of 20 dig performances by Jaisa Russell and Brooke Fredrickson. Kaitlynn Simon (15), Flores (14), and Leimbach (12) also reached double figures in digs.
At the net, it was a complete team effort with eight total blocks on the night. Five different players had a hand in the total with Hiatt and Samuelson each registering four block assists.
Midland (2-3, 1-1 GPAC) will be on the road for their next match. They’ll travel to the College of Saint Mary (7-1, 2-1 GPAC) next Wednesday for a mid-week GPAC tilt. First serve inside the Lied Fitness Center in Omaha is set for 7:30 p.m. with junior varsity action taking place at 5:00 p.m.