The Dordt University women's volleyball team lost a tough four-set match to 17th-ranked Midland University in conference play this afternoon at the De Witt Gymnasium. Individual scores were 25-21, 25-17, 23-25 and 25-23.
The Defenders are now 3-9 in the GPAC, 4-14 overall, while Midland improves to 6-5 in conference play, 10-9 overall.
Tarren Spartz finished with both a career-high and match-high 17 kills, hitting .244 against the one of the top blocking teams in the NAIA.
Macy Kamler put away a career-best 11 kills and
Ellie Weg contributed 10 kills to go with five blocks, giving the Defenders three players in double figures.
Dordt fell behind early in set one (3-0) only to outscore Midland 9-4 behind the play of Spartz and Kamler who both put down two kills to give their team a 9-7 lead. The teams traded points for the next while, until, tied at 13, Midland went on a decisive 5-0 run to take the lead for good. A late Defenders rally cut the Midland lead down to one after a kill from Isabel Cumana but that was as close as the hosts would get, falling 25-21.
Set two was close early and featured three lead changes and five ties, the final at 9-9. Midland then went on a 5-1 run to take control and extended its lead to as much as 10 in the later stages to win the set 25-17 and take a 2-0 lead.
With Midland in front by two (9-7) in set three, Dordt went on its best run of the match as they outscored the Warriors 8-1 to take a 15-10 lead. Back-to-back kills from Spartz and consecutive blocks by
Kelly McArthur and
Ayden Den Herder sparked the Defenders run. Midland came back, however, and briefly took back the lead (21-20) only to have the Defenders use a decisive 5-2 run to win 25-23 and force a fourth set.
Set four was close the whole way as neither team held more than a two point lead until late. Following a successful attack by
Ellie Weg to put Dordt in front 21-19, Midland came back to score the next five points, forcing the Defenders to use both timeouts, and setting up match point with a 24-21 lead. Dordt staved off two match points as Spartz put away consecutive kills to force Midland into a time out up 24-23 but a Defenders hitting error on the next point secured the win for the Warriors.
A Closer Look at the Numbers:
- both teams hit better than their season average; Dordt at 17% and Midland hit 21%
- Dordt hit better than Midland in the final two sets
- Dordt held a 13-8 advantage in blocks
- Midland had the edge in aces, 7-2
- Kelly McArthur lofted up a career-high 34 assists and totaled 11 digs for her fourth double-double of the season
- Macy Kamler registred her first career double-double with 11 kills to go with 15 digs
- Makenna Kooima accounted for a team-high 21 digs, one of four Defenders in double figures in digs
- Ellie Weg put down three blocks (1 solo, 4 assisted)
- Midland was led by Lauren Williams with 15 kills, one of three Warrior players in double figures
- Jessi Moss (11) and Jacki Apel (11)
- Brena Mackling (25) and Brielle Power (22) combined for 47 assists
