Jackets Beat Capital; Fall to Muskingum

NEW CONCORD, OHIO  --  The Defiance College volleyball team began play at the OAC/HCAC Challenge hosted by Muskingum University with a split in New Concord.  The Yellow Jackets lost to host school Muskingum, 3-1, but beat Capital University, 3-1, in their second match.

In the match against Muskingum, the two teams alternated victories through the first three sets, but the Fighting Muskies led, 2-1 heading into the fourth set.  The fourth set took extra points to decide the winner, but Muskingum came out on top to take the overall match win, 3-1 (17-25, 25-22, 22-25, 25-27).  

As a team, Defiance (4-11) totaled 42 kills with the duo of sophomore Meredith Shank (Maumee/Springfield) and freshman Marissa Windau (Castalia/Margaretta) who combined for 22 of those kills with 11 kills each.  Junior Ari Mahaffey (Porter, Ind./Chesterton) had all 33 of the team's set assists and also tallied the team's only service aces with two.  

On the defensive side, four players recorded multi-digit dig totals with senior Rebecca Kain (Orland, Ind./Prairie Heights) posting a match-high 30 digs.  Sophomore Makayla Dennis (Bryan) was second with 18 digs, Shank was third with 13 digs and Mahaffey added 10 digs.  

Against Capital, Defiance captured the first set, 25-12, but fell short in set two, 25-22, to even the match at 1-1.  The Yellow Jacckets then took the match with a pair of close sets, 25-20 and 25-21, to go on to the 3-1 match victory.

Statistically, Shank led the team with 13 kills and was followed by Windau with nine kills.  Mahaffey rounded out the top three with eight kills and also led the team in assists with 35.  Windau was also an offensive threat for DC from behind the service line with a match-high four aces.  

Kain again led the Jacket defense with 23 digs.  Sophomore Jaidyn Patridge (Toledo/Springfield) was a close second with 20 digs and Dennis and Mahaffey added 16 and 14 digs respectively.  At the net, freshman Brooke Plummer (Plain City/Jonathan Alder) had a team-best three blocks (all solo). 

Defiance will conclude the two-day event tomorrow (Saturday, Sept. 26) with its final matches of the OAC/HCAC Challenge with its first match against Baldwin Wallace University at 11:30 a.m.  The Jackets will then take on Ohio Northern University at 3:30 p.m.