Yellow Jackets Complete First Day of PSU-Behrend Invitational

ERIE, PA.  --  The Defiance College volleyball team got its first win of the season with a two-match split on the first day of the Penn State-Behrend (Pa.) Invitational.  The Yellow Jackets defeated D'Youville (N.Y.) College, 3-0, in the final match of the day, but fell to Bethany (W.Va.) College, 3-1, in their early match.

In the match against Bethany, the Bison grabbed a commanding match lead by winning the first two sets by the scores of 25-21 and 25-18.  Defiance (1-5) kept the match going by capturing the third set, 25-22.  But Bethany edged DC in what turned out to be the deciding set, 25-23, to take a 3-1 overall match victory.

Individually, Defiance had one player in double figures in kills in freshman Marissa Windau (Castalia/Margaretta) with 10 kills.  Fellow freshman Brooke Plummer (Plain City/Jonathan Alder) was second with nine kills and sophomore Sydney Unger (Frankfort, Ind./Clinton Central) added eight kills.  Junior Ari Mahaffey (Porter, Ind./Chesterton) led the Yellow Jackets in assists with 28 and also had a team and match-tying high three service aces.  Teammate, senior Rebecca Kain (Orland, Ind./Prairie Heights) also had three aces.

Kain was one of three players in double digits in digs with a match-high 33 digs.  Junior Hope Neargarder (Union City/Mississinawa Valley) and sophomore Makayla Dennis (Bryan) both had 13 digs to round out the team leaders.  

In the nightcap against D'Youville, DC made quick work of the Spartans in the first win by the score of 25-12.  The two teams then played a more contested second set, but the Jackets prevailed, 25-22.  Leading, 2-0, DC then put the match away by claiming the third set with a score of 25-14.

Defiance had many players involved offensively in kills with Windau leading the way with a match-high eight kills.  The duo of Unger and freshman Caitlyn Myers (West Alexandria/Twin Valley South) were tied for second on the team with five kills.  Mahaffey continued to set up the offense with a match-high 16 assists, followed by Kain with seven assists.  DC also had a strong effort from behind the service line as sophomore Jaidyn Patridge (Toledo/Springfield) had four aces, while Dennis and Meyers both tallied three aces.

Kain and Mahaffey accounted for 30 of the team's 46 digs defensively with Kain posting a match-high 20 digs and Mahaffey added 10 digs.  

The Yellow Jackets will conclude the PSU-Behrend Invitational tomorrow (Saturday, Sept. 12) with their final two matches beginning with a matchup against host school PSU-Behrend at 10:30 a.m.  Defiance will then take on Geneva (Pa.) College in its final match which is set to begin at 12:30 p.m.