Jackets top Quakers, but fall to No. 7 Purple Raiders

ALLIANCE, Ohio – The Defiance volleyball team earned a split for the weekend, after it defeated the Wilmington Quakers in straight sets, but lost 3-0 to the Mount Union Purple Raiders in the second contest of the afternoon.

In the first set against Wilmington, the Lady Jackets came out and put on a clinic. DC went up by scores of 12-1 and 24-2 before finishing off the match with a 25-5 victory. It was a well-rounded effort from the entire squad led.

Things completely turned around in the second set, as the Quakers came out as a brand new team. Things started off much of the same, as the Purple and Gold went up 7-1, but then Wilmington made a run of its own and tied the match up at 10-10. Both sides battled back and forth throughout the frame, as the score moved to 20-20. The Quakers then notched its first lead going up 24-23 and having a chance to take the set. But the Jackets regrouped and came back to score a 27-25 win.

Defiance then took the third set 25-20 to win the match. It battled with Wilmington early on, but then found a rhythm and went up 10-5 and 14-9. The Quakers caught up and cut the deficit to 19-17, but that was as close as they got.

Chelsea Ludeman (Napoleon, Ohio / HS) was the main offensive threat, as she racked up 18 kills led mostly by Alicia Kalik's (South Lyon, Mich. / HS) 33 assists. At the defensive end, Rebecca Kain (Orland, Ind. / Prairie Heights) accounted for 21 digs and Bree Anderson (Huntertown, Ind. / Carroll) came away with six total blocks.

The second match did not go as smoothly for the volleyball squad. In what was arguably its toughest matchup of the regular season, DC fell by scores of 25-18, 25-18, 25-21 to No.7 Mount Union.

Defiance kept things tight in the first set, as it was only down 9-7 and 16-13, but the home team then pulled away. The Jackets then grabbed their first lead of the match in the second frame, going up 11-9. However, the Purple Raiders quickly responded with a 10-3 run to go up 19-14 before taking the set. To close out the match, the home squad went up early in set three and led by seven at 21-14, but DC never gave up and clawed back to make the score 23-21. Unfortunately, the nationally ranked Purple Raiders were just too much.

Ludeman led once again in kills with 10 and totaled 28 for the afternoon. Kalik added 24 assists and 10 digs to give her 57 assists in the two matches and Kain had 10 digs as well for 31 total.

The Lady Jackets move to 10-4 with the Saturday split. Wilmington fell to 0-11 and Mount Union improved to a perfect 16-0 on the season.

DC will get back to play next weekend when they head to Greencastle, Ind. for a tri-match with the Wooster Scots and the Depauw Tigers. The matches are slated to begin at 2 and 4 p.m.