Jackets Win Twice as Kain Becomes All-Time Digs Leader

DEFIANCE, OHIO  --  Senior Rebecca Kain (Orland, Ind./Prairie Heights) entered today needing 29 digs to become the program's all-time leader in all eras in digs and more than doubled that total to make history and lead the Defiance College volleyball team to a pair of victories against Mount St. Joseph University and Otterbein University at the Karl H. Weaner Center.

Kain has now posted 1,713 digs in her four-year career, surpassing the previous all-time mark of 1,685 digs that was previously held by Corrie Farley (2003-06).  Kain is already the all-time leader in career digs in the 25-point rally scoring era.

Defiance (6-14, 1-0 HCAC) began the day with a match against Mount St. Joseph in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference opener.  The Yellow Jackets captured the first set, 25-21, but the Lions rallied to win the second set, 25-22, and tie the overall match at a game a piece.  DC then took control of the match and came away with wins in sets three and four, 25-17 and 25-18, to record the 3-1 match victory.

The Yellow Jackets were led by freshman Caitlyn Meyers (West Alexandria/Twin Valley South)  with a match-high 11 kills.  She was followed by junior Hope Neargarder (Union City/Mississinawa Valley) who had nine kills and the duo of sophomore Meredith Shank (Maumee/Springfield) and freshman Marissa Windau (Castalia/Margaretta) both added seven kills.  Junior Ari Mahaffey (Porter, Ind./Chesterton) had a match-high 39 assists and sophomore Makayla Dennis (Bryan) rounded out the offensive leaders with three service aces.

Three players finished with double-digit dig totals led by Kain with 24.  Mahaffey was second with 14 digs and Dennis tallied 13 digs.  Meyers also got involved on the defensive side with a team-high four total blocks (four assists).  Neargarder was second with three blocks (one solo and two assists) and Windau, Mahaffey and freshman Brooke Plummer (Plain City/Jonathan Alder) all had two blocks.

In the final match of the day against Otterbein, the two teams slugged it out as the match would need all five sets to decide a winner.  The see-saw battle continued throughout the match as each team traded sets.  In the fifth and deciding set, the Jackets had two early chances to grab the win, but the Cardinals rallied each time and then had their own opportunity to take the win.  This time DC mounted a rally and eventually took the win, 3-2, with the scores of 25-19, 16-25, 26-24, 21-25, 18-16.

Shank had 20 kills to pace the DC offense.  Windau was second with 11 kills and Plummer had six kills.  Mahaffey recorded all but two of the team's assists with 47.  Neargarder and Kain both had a match-tying high three aces.  

Kain recorded her record-setting dig against the Cardinals and ended the match with a total of 33 digs.  Dennis added 24 digs and Mahaffey added 11 digs.  Sophomore Jaidyn Patridge (Toledo/Springfield) rounded out the dig leaders with 10.  Up front, Neargarder and Shank led the team with three total blocks each.  Neargarder had three assisted blocks, while Shank had one solo block and two assisted blocks.

Defiance will continue its HCAC schedule on Wednesday (Oct. 7) when it travels to Bluffton for a contest against rival Bluffton University.  The match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.