DC Falls to Heidelberg in Four Sets

DEFIANCE, OHIO  --  The Defiance College volleyball team fell to the Heidelberg University Student Princes in four sets, 3-1, in their home opener at the Karl H. Weaner Center on Tuesday, Sept. 13. 

The opening set saw Heidelberg (7-3) jump out to a 6-0 lead. Defiance (2-6) would battle their way to within three points, 9-6, before another Heidelberg run got the lead back out to seven points, 17-10. The lead would be insurmountable from there and The Berg took the opening set by the final of 25-18.

The roles reversed to open the second, seeing junior Jaidyn Patridge (Toledo/Springfield) record two aces and lead the Yellow Jackets to an early 5-0 advantage. The serving of sophomore Brooke Plummer (Plain City/Jonothan Alder) saw the Yellow Jackets jump their lead to 9-3 before Heidelberg got the deficit down to three points at 12-9.  The Yellow Jackets rallied for four straight points to extend the margin to 16-9 and DC never looked back en route to a 25-17 set two victory and even the overall match at 1-1.

The third set saw the teams trade points until the 4-4 mark when Heidelberg went on a spurt to make it 7-4. Defiance made things interesting and got to within a point at 10-9 before the Student Princes scored six of the next seven to lead 16-10. Defiance would not go away and clawed their way back into it behind the serving of senior Ari Mahaffey (Porter, Ind./Chesterton) to get the deficit to a point at 20-19. But the rally stalled there as Heidelberg found a way to take the third set, 25-22.

Neither team led the fourth by more than a point all the way until the score sat at 11-11. Heidelberg then seized momentum quickly from there, scoring nine of the next 11 markers and suddenly built a 20-13 lead.  The Student Princes maintained a sizeable lead the rest of the way and went on to win the set, 25-17, and took the overall match, 3-1.

The Yellow Jacket attack was led by junior Meredith Shank (Maumee/Springfield), as she finished with 13 kills and just one error. Shank also added five digs in the loss. Sophomore Marissa Windau (Castallia/Margarett) and freshman Emma Seitz (Toledo/Central Catholic) added nine kills apiece. Defensively, Dennis led the way with 31 digs, Mahaffey added 13 and freshman Abigail Cronin (Lambertville, Mich./Cardinal Stritch Catholic) chipped in with 12. Mahaffey also had 31 assists for the Yellow Jackets. 

Defiance returns to action on Friday, Sept. 16 and Saturday, Sept. 17 at the Ohio Wesleyan University Invitational. The Yellow Jackets will face the host Battling Bishops on Friday at 7 p.m. and will take on Westminster (Pa.) College at 10 a.m. on Saturday followed by a matchup against Case Western Reserve University at 2 p.m.