Purple and Gold blank Grizzlies for seventh-straight win

DEFIANCE, Ohio – After the DC volleyball team had its struggles in the mid-week matchup with Manchester, it regrouped and played extremely well on Friday, October 18 in the dominant shutout (25-11, 25-11, 25-21) of the Franklin Grizzlies.

The victory gives the Yellow Jackets a seven-match winning streak, which is the longest since the 2009 DC squad ran off eight straight. Defiance improves to 18-5 (5-0 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference), while Franklin drops its fifth-straight match and slips to 13-11 (2-3 HCAC).

"It was a good bounce-back game for our team after the Manchester match," said head coach Brie Brenner. "We cleaned up our mistakes and executed very well tonight and it was also great to get our younger ladies some playing time and have them perform well."

In the first set, the Yellow Jackets came out on fire. The teams battled for the first few points, but DC strung together 10-straight to go up big 15-3. The run was led by senior Lexy Pierce's (Wauseon, Ohio/Wauseon) three kills, who also happened to reach the 700 career kill mark on the afternoon.

Defiance then cruised through the rest of the first set and took it by a score of 25-11.

Set two started off in almost identical fashion to the first. The Purple and Gold grabbed the first-five points and then extended its advantage to 14-3. The big lead was provided by a well-rounded effort from the squad.

Senior Chelsea Ludeman (Napoleon, Ohio) notched three kills and junior Bree Anderson (Huntertown, Ind./Carroll) and freshman Kelsey Tietje (Deshler, Ohio/Patrick Henry) added two kills apiece.

Franklin just couldn't find a rhythm in the set, as it was playing without its leading setter. The Grizzlies only were able to come within nine points of Defiance after the early deficit and the Jackets rolled to a second-straight 25-11 win.

Things were looking much of the same in the third and final set. DC sprung ahead to an early 8-2 advantage and increased it to 21-12 with all signs pointing to an easy victory. But the visitors didn't give up and made things interesting by climbing back to a 24-21 score.

However, an explosive kill by Pierce was the set and match clincher and the Yellow Jackets walked away with their seventh win in a row.

Anderson was the leader in kills for Defiance on the afternoon. The outside hitter accounted for 14 on a .400 attack percentage, while adding three digs. Junior Alicia Kalik (South Lyon, Mich./South Lyon) also had another solid day overall with 34 assists, 10 digs and three block assists.

The Yellow Jackets next match will be against the Anderson Ravens in the Weaner Center on Wednesday, October 23 at 7 p.m. It is the final regular-season home contest, as well as senior night and pink night.

Ludeman, Pierce and Christa Seidenstricker (Plain City, Ohio/Jonathan Alder) will be honored before the match for all their contributions to the Defiance volleyball program. DC will also be wearing pink in honor of breast cancer awareness.