Yellow Jackets' resurgent season ends with WHAC Tournament loss at Cornerstone

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – In a year that will be remembered as a large step towards the program's championship goals, the Defiance Yellow Jackets' hopes of contention this season were dashed in Wednesday's WHAC Tournament quarterfinal round with a straight-set defeat (14-25, 21-25, 16-25) to the Cornerstone Golden Eagles.

Playing as the 7-seed, the Yellow Jackets end the season 16-17 after moving up 3 spots in the WHAC standings from a year ago. The Golden Eagles (25-6, 16-4 WHAC) advance as the 2-seed in the tournament.

The first half of the opening set was close with Defiance holding within 2 points and trailed 11-9 after Gabby Rodriguez struck her second kill of the night. Cornerstone responded with the next 4 points and did not allow DC to fight back, eventually closing the 25-14 win. The Golden Eagles hit an impressive .455 in the first set, committing just 2 attack errors with 12 kills.

The second set started with Defiance holding a 4-0 lead thanks to a Lauryn O'Lenic spike, an ace by Kaylee Dickinson and two attack errors by Cornerstone. The Golden Eagles rallied for the next 5 points but the Jackets held the upper hand until the 16-16 point. Cornerstone won the race to 20 but DC did not let up during a pivotal moment in the match. Rodriguez connected on a kill and a setting error by Cornerstone brought Defiance within 1 point at 20-19. However, Cornerstone grabbed the next 3 points and the Jackets ran out of time to fall behind 2 sets to none.

Cornerstone commanded the third set, jumping ahead 8-2 and 12-3. Defiance went on to record 11 more kills in the third set, but the Golden Eagles found another groove and hit .452 in the final set with 16 kills to close out the match.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Defiance posted the program's second straight season of double-digit wins, had the most wins since 2019 (17), and matched the program benchmark for conference wins in a season (9).
• The Yellow Jackets reached the WHAC Tournament for the second straight season under head coach Jeremy Thornburg and the 24th time in program history.
• Gabby Rodriguez led the Yellow Jackets with 8 kills in the match.
• Chaney Brodbeck posted 7 kills for DC, surpassing 400 kills for the season. Ending the year with 403 total kills, Brodbeck is just the 5th player in DC volleyball history to have a 400-kill season with the 4th-most in a season in program history. The last player with 400 kills in a season was Chelsea Ludeman (408) on the HCAC champion team in 2013.
• Taylor Craft had an efficient night around the net, converting 4 kills and just 1 attack error in 13 tries.
• Haley Hammer assisted on 20 points for Defiance, ending the season with 759 and the most by a DC player since 2019.

UP NEXT
The WHAC Tournament continues on Friday with the semifinal round before Saturday's conference championship.

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