Defiance Wins Thriller Against Manchester (Ind.)

DEFIANCE, OHIO  --  The Defiance College volleyball team needed all five sets, but put away the Manchester (Ind.) University Spartans on a service ace to claim a 3-2 match victory in a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference matchup at the Karl H. Weaner Center.

Both teams traded victories in the first four sets, but Defiance came out on top in the deciding set to go on to win by the scores of 18-25, 25-23, 22-25, 25-8, 15-10.

As a team, Defiance (7-16, 2-2 HCAC) had 58 kills with the duo of sophomore Meredith Shank (Maumee/Springfield) and freshman Marissa Windau (Castalia/Margaretta) leading the way with a match-high 16 and 11 kills respectively.  Sophomore Danielle Robbins (Westland, Mich./Wayne Memorial) and freshman Brooke Plummer (Plain City/Jonathan Alder) rounded out the top three with eight kills each.

Junior Ari Mahaffey (Porter, Ind./Chesterton) tallied a team-high 42 assists and also added a pair of service aces and three kills.  Senior Rebecca Kain (Orland, Ind./Prairie Heights) had a match-high four service aces.

Defensively, Kain was one of three players in double figures in digs with a match-high 22 digs.  Mahaffey was second with 13 digs and sophomore Jaidyn Patridge (Toledo/Springfield) added 10 digs.  Windau led both teams in blocks with four assists, followed by Mahaffey and Plummer with two each.

The Yellow Jackets will travel to Lexington, Ky. for a HCAC match against Transylvania (Ky.) University on Saturday, Oct. 17.  The match is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.