Panthers No Match for the Yellow Jackets

DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Defiance College volleyball team extended its Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular-season winning streak to 16 matches after topping Hanover in four sets, 3-1.

With the win, DC improved to 15-10 overall and 6-0 in the HCAC.  The Panthers fall to 13-14 overall and 4-2 HCAC.

Senior Bree Anderson (Huntertown, Ind./Carroll) set the tone early for Defiance.  She put down a kill for the first point and kept that energy all day long for the Yellow Jackets. Jaidyn Patridge (Toledo/Springfield) then stepped up and served up her first of four aces on the day to give DC the early 2-0 lead.  The teams battled back and forth for the next few points when Makayla Dennis (Bryan) stepped up to take her turn serving.  She put up five straight points for DC which featured a kill each from Ari Mahaffey (Porter, Ind./Chesterton) and Anderson.  The Yellow Jackets led 14-8 at that point.

DC slowly built its lead to 21-14 when Mahaffey put down back-to-back kills to all but shut the door on game one.  The Yellow Jackets took the first set 25-17.  Anderson led DC in kills the first set with five.  Hope Neargarder (Union City/Mississinawa Valley) and Mahaffey added three kills each.

DC got off to another 2-0 start in set number two thanks to another Anderson kill and a Panther error.  Hanover would not go silently though as they battled back to take a 15-11 lead midway through the second set.  Rebecca Kain (Orland, Ind./Prairie Heights) then went on a seven point service run to give DC the 18-16 lead.

The teams went back and forth late in the second set.  Hanover held a 23-20 advantage when Patridge gave DC a lead on a four point service run that featured a Meredith Shank (Maumee/Springfield) kill.  Hanover would find a way to get three straight points, taking set two 26-24.  Anderson, Shank, and Kelsey Tietje (Deshler/Patrick Henry) all had two kills in the set.

DC again took the first points of a set, this time the Yellow Jackets jumped out to a 6-0 start to begin the third set.  Patridge showed off her serving skills with help from Shank and Anderson who had two kills and a block assist each.  Patridge took care of the other point with an ace.  Hanover slowly closed the gap, cutting the lead to 8-5 before a Tietje kill stopped the Hanover run.  The teams fought hard for the rest of set three, with neither team able to score more than three points at a time the rest of the set.  DC had the 24-18 advantage when Tietje put down a monster kill on a helper from Alicia Kalik (South Lyon, Mich./South Lyon) to take set three 25-18.

Shank led the way in the set with five kills and Anderson added another four.

The Yellow Jackets took the first three points in set four.  Patridge served up another ace and got help from fellow freshman Shank to take the early lead.  DC would not let Hanover within two points the last set with that score coming at 4-2.  The Yellow Jackets slowly built their lead, getting up by as much as nine at 21-12.  That is when Hanover would put together one last run.  The Panthers scored five straight, cutting the lead to 21-17 when Mahaffey put down a big kill to stop Hanover.  A kill from Anderson two plays later put DC up 24-17.  Hanover went on another small run before Anderson finished the game how she started it, with a kill, as DC took the final game 25-19.

Anderson added another six kills in the final set to bring her total to a game high 17.  That number matches her career high.  Shank and Tietje also both reached double figures in kills with 11 and 10, respectively.  Kalik put up her sixth double-double of the season with 44 assists and 12 digs.  Kain had 22 digs to lead the team and Patridge added 12.

The Yellow Jackets will head to Anderson, Ind. for a matchup against Anderson University on Wednesday (Oct. 22) for their final road game of the regular season.  Start time is set for 7 pm.