Lady Jackets volleyball opens season with sweep

BEXLEY, Ohio – The Defiance College volleyball squad came up with two big wins over the Capital Crusaders in five sets and the Denison Big Red in four sets on the first day of the 2013 campaign. The Jackets start off their year 2-0 for the second-straight season with the pair of victories.

In the first match of the day, DC fought a back-and-fourth battle in the first set but fell 27-25 to the Crusaders. It then stumbled in the second, coming up short 25-19. Down two games to none and with its back to the wall in the season opener, the Lady Jackets volleyball squad came together and pulled off a miraculous comeback.

Through the middle of the third set, the score sat tied 14-14 and neither squad had led by more than two points. Capital won two of the next three to go up 17-15, but the Purple and Gold dug deep and made a run that could possibly be the spark of the entire comeback. DC notched six-straight points to take a 21-17 advantage and would hold off the home squad to win 25-23 in the third set.

Action got even dicier then in the fourth frame. Defiance was able to maintain a steady lead of three-to-four points throughout the set, as it was up 4-1, 14-10 and 21-17. However, Capital clawed its way back and took the lead 24-23. But DC came right back with three-straight points to send the match into a fifth set. Senior Alexis Pierce notched one of her four kills in the set to tie things up, the Crusaders then committed an error and junior Bree Anderson swatted a game-winning kill to take the set 26-24. Senior Chelsea Ludeman was huge in the frame, as she chalked up six kills.

What would only be fitting for a fifth and final set to determine the victor of this extraordinary match, the Yellow Jackets and the Crusaders traded points all the way through the first two-thirds of the round and sat tied 10-10. But a pair of kills by the Purple and Gold mixed with a pair of errors by Capital in the next five points made it 14-11 DC. Down to their last point, the Crusaders came all the way back to tie the set at 14, 15 and 16 apiece.

However, in this match, Defiance would not be denied of its epic comeback, as freshman Kelsey Tietje and Ludeman served up back-to-back kills to grab the amazing season-opening victory for the Lady Jackets.

For the second contest of the night, the Purple and Gold defeated the Denison Big Red in four sets by scores of 26-24, 25-23, 23-25, 25-23. Pierce and Ludeman led the way for DC in the contest with 19 and 18 kills apiece, respectively. On the defensive end, Ludeman came up with 10 blocks, while Pierce came through with nine. Junior setter Alicia Kalik racked up 46 assists, which was almost identical to the 47 she notched in game one of the day.

The Yellow Jackets are back in action tomorrow Saturday, August 31 for the second day of the Otterbein/Capital Tournament. They will be taking on the Otterbein Cardinals at 9:30 am, followed by the Kenyon Lords at 12 pm. The matches will be taking place in Westerville, Ohio.