SIOUX CITY, Iowa. – The Dakota Wesleyan volleyball team continued their strong run to open up conference play as they defeated Morningside College convincingly in four sets on Saturday. The victory gave the Tigers back-to-back conference wins on the road and just their second-ever win over the Mustangs in program history.
Set scores were 17-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-18
The first set saw the Mustangs (2-4, 1-2) charge out to a 10-4 lead causing the Tigers (5-1, 2-1) to call an early timeout. Out of the break, DWU responded with a service ace by Mariah Gloe (Watertown, S.D.) and a kill by Mackenzie Miller (Mitchell, S.D.) off the assist of Madeline Else (Holstein, Iowa).
While DWU narrowed the deficit later in the set at 16-18, Morningside eventually cruised to a 25-17 victory to claim the first frame.
The Blue and Gray snuck out to a 2-0 lead to start the second frame off back-to-back kills from freshman Ady Dwight (Langford, S.D.) and Miller. Later in the same set, the Tigers extended their lead to four points, causing the Mustangs to call a timeout of their own down 10-6.
Despite trying to close the gap, the Mustangs were not able to retake the momentum as the freshman duo of Dwight and McKenzie Buisker (Watertown, S.D.) took over the remainder of the set with a plethora of kills. DWU eventually claimed the second frame by a score of 25-19, tying the match at 1-1.
Much like the second frame, the Tigers cruised to an early 4-1 lead in the third set. Both Dwight and Jadie DeLange (Monument, Colo.) sparked the offensive attack forcing the Mustangs to take another timeout. Morningside responded by retaking the lead 10-9 out of the break. However, a 5-2 run fueled by multiple assists from Else gave the Tigers the momentum and ultimately a 25-18 third-set victory to take a 2-1 edge.
The fourth and final frame saw the Mustangs knot the score early at 3-3 after DWU tallied back-to-back points to open the set. Midway through the frame the Tigers built a three-point lead off back-to-back kills by Buisker and DeLange.
While initially keeping the score in reach, Morningside could not match the tempo as DWU went on a 9-5 run to claim a 25-18 edge. The offensive attack was continued thanks to a kill by Hanna Reiff (Chester, S.D.) off the assist from Taylee Indahl (Burke, S.D.) to ultimately give the Tigers the 3-1 road victory and shock the Mustangs.
The Tiger attack was led by Dwight as she posted a strong performance with a season-high 18 kills, one dig and six blocks. Buisker and DeLange also helped carry the load notching 12 and 10 kills, respectively while Else recorded 51 assists. Meanwhile, defensively the Tigers were led by Gloe and Reiff who recorded a combined 53 digs as Dakota Wesleyan racked up 89 digs and 20 blocks as a team to secure the victory.
Dakota Wesleyan now sits in fourth place in the Great Plains Athletic Conference and just one game out of first place with a 5-1 overall record and 2-1 conference record. The Tigers return to action versus conference foe Dordt University as they host their first home match of the season at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday in the Corn Palace.