Volleyball Rallies to Beat Transylvania (Ky.)

LEXINGTON, KY.  --  After dropping a close first set, the Defiance College volleyball team then captured three straight sets to win 3-1 against Transylvania (Ky.) University in a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference match in Lexington, Ky.

Three players ended the match with 10 or more kills, led by the duo of sophomore Meredith Shank (Maumee/Springfield) and freshman Marissa Windau (Castalia/Margaretta) with 13 kills each.  Junior Hope Neargarder (Union City/Mississinawa Valley) was third with 10 kills.  Junior Ari Mahaffey (Porter, Ind./Chesterton) led DC in assists with 38 and was tied for the team lead with teammate Jaidyn Patridge (Toledo/Springfield) in aces with three.  

Defensively, senior Rebecca Kain (Orland, Ind./Prairie Heights) had a team-high 23 digs, followed by Mahaffey and fellow juinor Dia Jackson (Detroit, Mich./Canton) with eight digs each.  Up front, Neargarder had a match-high six blocks (six assists) and freshman Brooke Plummer (Plain City/Jonathan Alder) was second with five blocks (five assists).

In the first set, Defiance (8-16, 3-2 HCAC) trailed Transylvania (14-6, 4-2 HCAC) early on, but a 6-0 scoring run by the Yellow Jackets, put DC up by a point, 20-19.  The two teams then went back-and-forth the rest of the way and sent the set into extra points to decide a winner.  The Jackets went up by a point late, 28-27, following a block by Shank to give DC an opportunity to claim the victory.  But the Pioneers responded with three straight points to edge out the Jackets, 30-28, and take a 1-0 match lead.

Defiance trailed early again in the second set and found itself down by as many as four points at 11-7.  The Jackets then outscored the Pioneers, 8-3, that included a pair of kills by Shank and Neargarder, en route to taking a 15-14 advantage.  DC then put the set away with another kill by Shank to win 25-22 and even the match at 1-1.

Trailing, 4-1, in set number three, an 8-1 swing by DC gave the Yellow Jackets a 9-5 advantage.  Transy battled back to even the set at 10-10 before four straight points by the Jackets that included a pair of kills by Shank and another kill by Windau, put DC out in front, 14-10.  Defiance never trailed again the rest of the set and ended the set with six straight points for a 25-15 victory.

The fourth set saw Defiance open up with a 5-1 run that included a kill by Neargarder and a service ace by Patridge.  Transy came right back and tied the game on multiple ocassions with the last one being 8-8.  The Yellow Jackets then began to pull away with a series of small scoring runs.  Leading by four points, 18-14, the Pioneers made a run and pulled to within two points, 19-17.  But a 6-1 run by the Jackets sealed the victory in the set, 25-18, and the overall match with a final of 3-1.

Defiance will host Anderson (Ind.) University on Wednesday, Oct. 21 in a HCAC match at the Karl H. Weaner Center.  The match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.