No. 9 Warriors Drop Top Ten Battle to No. 7 Viterbo

FREMONT, Neb. – In one of the many marquee matchups of the Midland Showdown, No. 7 Midland University went up against No. 7. Viterbo University mid-day on Saturday. The high-ranked clash didn't disappoint as the first two sets went extras. Each team took a set before the V-Hawks closed out the win (24-26, 28-26, 25-16, 25-19).

The Warriors were in control most of the opening set, building an early 9-4 lead and maintaining it up to 15-10. Viterbo began to chip away, with several three-point rallies. The third put them in front 20-18.

After a timeout, the Warriors forced a tie with back-to-back points before the V-Hawks responded with a 2-0 run themselves, prompting the final timeout from the MU sideline.

Following a rally to tie things at 23-23 and then 24-24, kills from Cortlyn Schaefer and Abbey Ringler clinched the 26-24 set one win.

In the second, Midland used a 7-0 run to take a 15-7 lead. Things looked in control as they went up 23-17 late in the set. That's when a 7-0 run by Viterbo pushed them in front and on set point. The teams found themselves tied at 24, 25, and 26 before an error by MU put the V-Hawks on the brink, and then a kill by their All-American outside, Kenzie Winker, completed the comeback. Winker had a stellar match with 23 total kills, 7 of which came in the second.

Viterbo used its momentum to take the third set. They led wire-to-wire to win 25-16 and then followed the same blueprint in the fourth, winning 25-19.

For the match, the V-Hawks hit .253 on the attack with 64 kills. The Warriors hit just .184 with 53 kills. Pacing the way for MU was Addy Mosier with 13 while Cortlyn Schaefer and Abbey Ringler each had an even 10.

Brena Mackling and Brielle Power handled the setting on the day in the Warriors' 6-2 lineup. Mackling had 24 assists while Power finished with 23.

Defensively, Delanie Vallinch had a season-best 26 digs. Joining in double digits was Mackling with 10 for her first double-double of her collegiate career.

Blocks were plenty at the net with Lauryn Samuelson and Jacki Apel each getting in on seven blocks to lead the way. Ringler was close behind with a half dozen as the team finished with 13 total blocks.

"We made a couple of mistakes at the end of game two. We had an opportunity to really bury them and we just made some mistakes and they took advantage of it," said head coach Paul Giesselmann after the match. "I like what we did, as far as when the game got tight, but we started playing more passive. Once Viterbo got that game, you could see their confidence really grow."

"As one of our players said in the locker room, we've got to stop being the rollercoaster," Coach Giesselmann added. "We look really good going up but coming down it's not so good. It's going to take some time. We've got some young kids we're working in, etc., etc. We need to figure out how to prepare ourselves mentally to play with an aggressive mindset from 0 to 25."

After a little bit of rest and practice, Midland (3-2) will begin play in the Great Plains Athletic Conference with a road match at Doane (1-3). The first serve between the conference rivals is set for 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, August 30 in Crete, Nebraska.