Defiance Stays Hot with Sweep of Earlham

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Defiance College made quick work of its first-ever Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference meeting against Earlham College, by bouncing the Quakers in straight sets to even its conference record at 1-1. The win was the fourth for the Jackets in their last five matches. 

DC controlled the action the entire night and never faced a serious threat from the visiting EC squad, as the lone deficit for the Jackets came at 2-0 in the second set. Defiance rebounded from the early disadvantage with a Christa Seidenstricker kill and three-straight aces from Sara Porter to claim the 4-2 lead, before rolling to the 25-15, 25-17, 25-11 victory. 

No individual logged more than eight kills in the team effort for Defiance, as the Jackets combined to collect 38 kills in 90 swings for a .322 percentage and racked up 11 aces. DC also helped force Earlham (3-13, 0-2 HCAC) into a -.020 percentage by racking up 43 digs and four team blocks. 

Seidenstricker led the way offensively for the Purple and Gold by collecting eight kills in 10 swings for a .700 hitting percentage for new career highs in each statistic. Porter was equally as impressive with eight kills and four aces, while Meghan Hinds and Stacey Truskowski each logged a trio of service aces to fuel the Defiance attack. 

The solid defensive effort was led at the net by Marlea Rolander, who added three more blocks to her HCAC-leading total and in the back row by Heather Bradshaw's match-high 12 digs. 

Defiance (8-11, 1-1 HCAC) will look to climb above the .500 barrier in league action when it plays at Franklin (3-17, 0-2 HCAC) on Saturday at noon.