Defiance Falls to Hanover, Tops Kalamazoo

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Defiance College split a pair of matches at home for the second time in as many days on Sunday afternoon. The Jackets dropped a five-set loss to Hanover but rebounded to outlast Kalamazoo in five.

Jessica Tietje got the DC attack rolling early in a key Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference clash with Hanover by slamming three kills and two service aces to help Defiance build a 20-12 lead. The spread would hold up, with DC scoring the 25-16 victory.

The tide quickly turned in the second and third sets however, as the Panthers posted a .292 hitting percentage in those two sets against a sluggish DC defensive unit to secure the 25-20 and 25-14 wins.

HC then pushed the Jackets to the brink with a 24-21 advantage but the Purple and Gold refused to fold and battled back to force a fifth set with a furious 5-0 spurt to steal the 26-24 victory. Tietje started the rally with a kill, before four-straight hitting errors from Hanover closed the set.

Sara Porter and Danyel Lipps tried to take over in the decisive fifth set by combining for seven kills in 17 swings. It would not be enough to hold off the Panthers however, as Hanover got kills from Abby Merritt and Kirsten Brandvik to rally from a 14-13 deficit. A DC hitting miscue then ended the match with a 16-14 win for Hanover.

Lipps ended the match with 16 kills and 10 digs, while Porter chipped in 12 kills and 16 digs. Kelsey Ferguson and Julie Brunsman paced the offense with a combined 40 assists.

Defiance played another five-set contest in the second match of the day, rebounding for a 25-16, 14-25, 26-24, 18-25, 15-11 victory against Kalamazoo.

After the two sides split the first four sets, the Jackets and Hornets battled to a 7-7 tie in the fifth game. Consecutive kills from Porter helped to open a 10-7 lead for Defiance and her fourth of the set pushed the spread to 12-8. Kills from Marlea Rolander and Lipps lifted DC to a 14-11 lead and a Kalamazoo attack error sealed the victory.

Lipps led the way with another double-double performance, as the senior hitter logged 21 kills and 12 digs. Porter also turned in another double-double with 14 kills and 17 digs and Heather Bradshaw scooped up 15 digs, while Ferguson passed out 41 assists.

Defiance moves to 13-8 with the split but falls to 0-3 in HCAC play. The Jackets will look to crack the win column in league action when they play at Transylvania (8-10, 2-1 HCAC) on Oct. 10 at noon. That match will be preceded by a non-conference clash at Centre on Oct. 9 at 7:30 pm.