Yellow Jackets Take First of Two Matches in Greencastle

GREENCASTLE, IND. – The Defiance College volleyball team looked very dominant in a convincing win against Concordia University Chicago.  DC won the match 3-0 to open up the DePauw (Ind.) Invitational.  The Yellow Jackets then suffered a loss against host school DePauw in their final match of the day, 3-1.

The Purple and Gold (6-5) came out with a well-balanced attack in match one of the invitational.  DC would dispose of Concordia (3-5) with ease 3-0.  The Yellow Jackets won the sets at 25-15, 25-7, 25-13 for the win.

A total of six Yellow Jackets tallied four or more kills in the three set match.  Bree Anderson (Huntertown, Ind./Carroll) and Ari Mahaffey (Porter, Ind./Chesterton) led the way with seven kills each.

Meredith Shank (Maumee/Springfield) and Kelsey Tietje (Deshler, Ohio / Patrick Henry) had a solid match at the net as well with six kills and five kills, respectively.  Hope Neargarder (Union City/Mississinawa Valley) and Danielle Robbins (Westland, Mich./Wayne Memorial) added four apiece.

As a team, DC had 36 kills on a .321 hitting percentage.

The defense put together one of the most dominant performances in recent history.  The 35 total points it gave up is the least amount of points given up by DC Volleyball since September 11, 2010 when the Yellow Jackets beat Marygrove 25-15, 25-14, 25-5.

Rebecca Kain (Orland, Ind./Prairie Heights) led DC in the back row with 18 digs.  Mahaffey and Jaidyn Patridge (Toledo/Springfield) added eight digs apiece to DC's total of 61.  Twelve of DC's 14 players on the roster recorded at least one dig.

Leading the Yellow Jackets with 28 assists was Alicia Kalik (South Lyon, Mich./South Lyon).  She added seven digs as well.

Against DePauw, the Tigers edged Defiance in the first set, 26-24, before the Jackets evened the match in set two winning by the final of 25-22.  But DePauw then took control capturing the next two sets, 25-17 and 25-12, to go on to the 3-1 overall match victory.

Anderson led the Defiance offense with 14 points with an impressive .438 hitting percentage.  Mahaffey and Tietje were tied for second on the team in kills with nine each.  Kalik set up the offense with 33 assists.  She was also one of four players to finish the match with 10 or digs with 14.

Kain led the Yellow Jacket defensive effort with 33 digs.  Kalik was second, followed by senior Caroline Hesterman (Fort Wayne, Ind./North Side) with 13 digs and Mahaffey added 10 digs.

Up front, Tietje tallied a pair of assisted blocks to lead the way.

DC will wrap-up the two-day invitational tomorrow (Saturday, Sept. 13) with a pair matches against Baldwin Wallace University and Millikin (Ill.) University.  The Jackets will take on BW at 10 am, followed by the matchup against Millikin at 2 p.m.