DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Defiance College volleyball team is geared up for the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference volleyball tournament to be held this week. The six-seeded Jackets play in the quarterfinals against the three-seed Bluffton University Beavers on Tuesday.

The match, which is scheduled for a 7:00 pm start, will be the second meeting between the HCAC rivals this season. Bluffton earned a hard-fought victory in the first match, 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-17).

The Jackets compiled a 14-15 record during the regular season, which was highlighted by a seven-match win streak. This will be the third time in four years that head coach Dave Kwan has directed the Yellow Jackets to the HCAC Tournament. That run has seen DC reach the finals once and the semifinals once.

This season, Defiance has been led by senior middle blocker Marlea Rolander and freshman setter Alicia Kalik. Rolander leads the squad with 214 kills. Her overall .309 hitting percentage is third in the conference, and her HCAC-only hitting percentage of .324 is third in the conference. She is currently second in total blocks with 110 (29 solo, 81 assists) and ninth in HCAC-only points with 3.14 per set.

Kalik, who is in the mix for HCAC Freshman of the Year, leads DC in assists with 754. She is third in the conference in total assists and assists per set with 8.11. Kalik has also proved to be a threat at the net, contributing 85 kills and 38 total blocks. Defensively, Kalik has also chipped in 135 digs.

Senior Jessica Tietje, sophomore Alexis Pierce and sophomore Chelsea Ludeman give Defiance and abundance of offensive threats. Tietje is second on the squad with 207 kills, and has given the defense a boost with 139 digs. Pierce, in her first season of college volleyball, has contributed 151 kills, and is second on the team with 89 total blocks. Ludeman, who lost part of her season to injury, has 148 kills, and leads DC with 2.21 kills per set.

Defensively, the Yellow Jackets have been paced by freshman Jill Turner, sophomore Christa Seidenstricker and junior Lindsay McDaniel. Turner and Seidenstricker have spilt time at the libero position. Currently, Turner leads the team with 202 digs, while Seidenstricker has added 161. McDaniel, a junior defensive specialist, has contributed 170 digs and 26 aces this season.

Bluffton, which earned a share of the regular season HCAC championship, enters the match with a 20-10 overall record and a 7-2 mark in the conference. They are led by Nicole Wood and Jenna Eshleman. Wood has tallied 374 kills, while Eshleman has 348.

The winner of the match will move on to play the two-seed, Mount Saint Joseph, on Saturday, November 5 at Hanover. That match will start at 5:00 pm.

<><><><>