Volleyball begins home slate by defeating Manchester twice

DEFIANCE, Ohio – On Wednesday night, the Defiance College volleyball team began the home portion of its 2020-21 schedule by defeating the Manchester University Spartans twice inside the Karl H. Weaner Community Center. Defiance won the first match, which counts in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference standings, by the score of 3-1 (25-19, 25-18, 20-25, 25-19) before another 3-1 (25-13, 23-25, 25-11, 25-19) victory in the second non-conference contest.

In the opening HCAC match, the Yellow Jackets never trailed through the first two sets but then fell behind early in the third set and could not recover. DC rebounded, however, by winning a very competitive fourth and final set.

Defiance ended with a .188 hitting percentage (50 kills and 25 errors in 133 attempts), compared to .152 (38, 19, 125) for Manchester. The Yellow Jackets collected 13 service aces to the Spartans' four.

For the Yellow Jackets, Mackenzie Benham tallied a match-high 18 kills and 13 digs, while Morgan Porter had 13 kills and 10 digs. Brianna Wheeler dished out a match-best 42 assists with four service aces, while Tre'Ana King contributed a match-high 20 digs.

DC started the non-conference match with a convincing victory in the first set but then lost a close one in the second. The hosts bounced back and captured the match by overcoming a 17-12 deficit in set four.

Defiance hit at a .259 clip (39 kills and 10 errors in 112 attacks) while MU struggled at -.024 (33, 36, 124). The Yellow Jackets were credited with a solo block and 16 block assists as the guests recorded no solos and only two assists.

Freshman Olivia Rayk paced a balanced DC attack with eight kills and a .538 hitting percentage, while Alexis Kiessling produced a match-high 20 digs. Wheeler added match bests of 17 assists and four service aces.

Defiance moves to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the conference while Manchester slips to 1-8 and 0-2, respectively. The Jackets are scheduled to host a single HCAC match with Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology this Saturday at 2 p.m.