Defiance Grabs Key Senior Day HCAC Victory

DEFIANCE, OHIO -- The Defiance College volleyball team earned a key Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference victory, knocking out the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Fightin' Engineers in four sets, 3-1, on senior day at the Karl H. Weaner Center.

Defiance (8-12, 4-2 HCAC) made their push in the late stages of the opening set. Leading just 9-8, DC grabbed three straight points to extend the lead to 12-8. Rose-Hulman (12-15, 4-2 HCAC) would cut it to 16-14 before Defiance rode the serving of junior Jaidyn Patridge (Toledo/Springfield) to a 9-1 run, scoring the final six points of the set to give Defiance a 25-16 opening victory.

The Yellow Jackets continued their momentum by scoring six of the first eight markers in the second set. RHIT continued to battle through the set, even taking a 21-20 lead in the late stages. Three straight kills from sophomore Brooke Plummer (Plain City/Jonathan Alder), freshman Jessica Davis (Delta) and fellow freshman Emma Seitz (Toledo/Central Catholic), put DC back ahead, 24-22. The Yellow Jackets sealed the second set with a service ace by junior Marissa Windau (Castalia/Margaretta) to finish with a 25-22 win.

The Engineers needed to rally and started off with a 10-5 lead in the third. Defiance grabbed three straight points to cut it to 10-8, but Rose-Hulman would seize momentum and maintain it for the remainder of the third set, taking a 25-20 victory.

After Rose-Hulman led 6-4 early in the fourth, back-to-back kills from junior Meredith Shank (Maumee/Springfield), followed by an error and a kill for Plummer, flipped the script to put DC ahead, 8-6. Defiance held a slight lead the rest of the way and with DC leading 22-20, a kill lby Windau and back-to-back errors for the Engineers clinched a four-set Defiance victory.

The Yellow Jacket attack was led by Seitz, who finished with 13 kills on 36 attempts for a team-leading .278 attack percentage. Shank also finished in double-figures with 11 kills on the afternoon. Senior setter Ari Mahaffey (Porter, Ind./Chesterton) led the way with 39 set assists for DC.

Defensively, senior Makayla Dennis (Bryan) led the way with 25 digs, while Mahaffey chipped in with 15 digs. In addition, Jessica Davis led the way with four blocks.

Defiance will next host Earlham (Ind.) College in a HCAC match on Wednesday, Oct. 26 at the Weaner Center. The match is set to begin at 7 p.m.