Volleyball falls in straight sets at Manchester

NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. - The Defiance College volleyball team fell in straight sets Saturday night at Manchester (23-25, 17-25, 15-25). The Spartans improve to 12-6 overall and 2-0 in the HCAC. The Yellow Jackets drop to 3-13 overall and 0-2 in the HCAC. 

The Spartans jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead in the first set. The Yellow Jackets slowly started to climb back into this one. Trailing 23-20, kills by Kaylynn Wellman and Shelby Clements as well as an attack error from Manchester's Avery Ball tied the set at 23. That forced a Manchester timeout and the Spartans responded with back-to-back kills out of the timeout to take the first set. 

The second set featured two ties with both coming within the first four points. Defiance took a 5-3 lead after a kill from Clements and an attack error from Jessica Tarr. That would be the only lead for the Yellow Jackets in the set as the Spartans responded with four straight points to regain the lead. Leading 15-11, Manchester scored five straight points to run away with the set. Another kill from Clements briefly halted the run. Kendra Kline and Aliza Clark connected to cut the deficit to seven, 24-17, but Manchester closed it out on the next point with a kill by Avery Carr. 

The Yellow Jackets jumped out to a slim lead early in set three. A kill by Madison Schoenauer and an attack error from Avery Carr gave Defiance a 9-8 lead. The Spartans would take five of the next six points to take a 13-10 lead. Defiance trailed 15-12 after an attack error from Joy Maze but they were unable to get any closer as the Spartans won 15 of the final 18 points including the final five points to take the set and the match.

Defiance finished the match with 26 kills, 25 assists, and 40 digs. Manchester ended with 46 kills, 45 assists, and 55 digs. 

Shelby Clements led the team in kills for the second straight game with 11. Kaylynn Wellman and Aliza Clark each had four kills. Kendra Kline and Courtney Maxwell recorded double digit assists and Emma Chafins added 13 digs. 

The Yellow Jackets have the week off and head to Rose-Hulman next Saturday for an HCAC match against the Fightin' Engineers. First serve is scheduled for 5 p.m.