Volleyball Beats Mount St. Joseph and Ohio Christian

CINCINNATI, OHIO  --  The Defiance College volleyball team won both matches of a tri-match hosted by the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati.  The Yellow Jackets remained perfect in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play with a 3-0 victory against host Mount St. Joseph and then beat Ohio Christian University, 3-1, in a non-conference matchup.

With the two victories, Defiance improves to 11-10 overall and 2-0 in the HCAC.

In the match against MSJ, Defiance won the first two sets by the scores of 25-16 and 25-14.  The third set ended up closer, but the Yellow Jackets came out on top with a final score of 25-21 to claim the straight set sweep.  Offensively, DC was led by freshman outside hitter Meredith Shank (Maumee/Springfield) with 10 kills.  Senior outside hitter Bree Anderson (Huntertown, Ind./Carroll) was second with nine kills and sophomore middle blocker Kelsey Tietje (Deshler/Patrick Henry) added five kills.  Senior setter Alicia Kalik (South Lyon, Mich./South Lyon) had a match-high 26 set assists.

On defense, junior defensive specialist Rebecca Kain (Orland, Ind./Prairie Heights) was one of two Jackets in double figures in digs with a match-best 16.  Freshman defensive specialist Jaidyn Patridge (Toledo/Springfield) was second with 10 digs.  At the net, the duo of Shank and Tietje led the way, each recording a pair of solo blocks.  

Against Ohio Christian, Defiance won a convincing first set, 25-12, but OCU came back to take the second set, 25-22, to even the match at a set apiece.  The Jackets then captured the next two sets, 25-16 and 25-14, to go on the 3-1 overall match victory.

Shank and Anderson again led the Defiance offense with 13 kills each.  Sophomore outside hitter Ari Mahaffey (Porter, Ind./Chesterton) rounded out the top three with five kills.  Kalik recorded all but four of the team's 44 assists for the match to end the contest with 40 and also had a match and team-high four service aces.  In addition, senior defensive specialist Caroline Hesterman (Fort Wayne, Ind./North Side) added three aces.

Defensively, Kain tallied 15 digs and was followed by Patridge with nine digs.  Up front, four different DC players recorded a block with Anderson, Shank, Mahaffey and Kalik each credited with a solo block.

Defiance will host Earlham (Ind.) College in a HCAC event on Wednesday, Oct. 8 at the Karl H. Weaner Center.  The match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.