Bellevue, Neb. – No. 17 Dakota Wesleyan volleyball makes quick work of both games, taking down 14thranked Montana Tech in three straight sets, then doing it again against Benedictine. Mariah Gloe joined elite company in the upset of Montana Tech as she surpassed 1,000 career digs, making her the 16th Tiger volleyball player to reach the feat.
The Quick Details
#17 DWU 3 - #14 MTU (25-14, 25-17, 25-22)
#17 DWU 3 – BU 0 (25-12, 25-14, 25-17)
How it happened
Game One
The Tigers made easy work of the 14th ranked team in the nation of Montana Tech. DWU jumped into a 6-2 lead after a trio of errors by the Miners and a service ace from Dannielle Burns, followed by a kill from Ady Dwight. Only a few points later, Abigail Brunsing and Mariah Gloe got in on the action each recording a kill of their own, pushing the Tiger lead to 9-5. Montana Tech couldn't hold Dakota Wesleyan back as they quickly fell into a seven-point deficit after back-to-back kills from Brunsing and Dwight. The Tiger put together a few more runs late in the opening set, before grabbing the 25-14 first set win.
Set two was a battle as both DWU and MTU were keeping each other in check through the first half of the set. After the Miners lost the lead early on at 8-7, the Tigers were able to hold a one-point lead with kills from Dwight and Taylee Indahl. Dakota Wesleyan finally broke the close game open a little more, gaining a three-point lead after a big, assisted block from Gloe and Brunsing for the 14-11 lead. Montana Tech started to close in on the DWU lead but wasn't enough. Dakota Wesleyan went ahead with the 23-15 lead late that forced an MTU timeout in hopes of breaking the momentum. The timeout wasn't enough though as the Tigers held on to grab the 25-17 set two win and a 2-0 advantage in the match.
Montana Tech slowed Dakota Wesleyan down in the third and final set. The Tigers trailed for much of the set, but when they needed a run; they put one together. The DWU run started when they were trailing 17-10. That was until freshman outside hitter, Lily Ranschau entered the match. After Ranschau entered, DWU went on a 7-0 run tying the set at 17-17 thanks to multiple kills by Dwight and an assisted block by Dwight and Ranschau. Once the Tigers earned the tie, the battle continued as the Miners tried to pull away again but wasn't fast enough. DWU put up the final points needed and kept MTU off the board for the 25-22 win as they grabbed the three-set sweep of No. 14 Montana Tech.
Overall, the Tigers counted 44 kills and a .256 hitting percentage, led by Dwight who tallied 19 of her own as she hit .545 percent. Gloe rang up 13 kills, while also cracking into the 1,000 digs club. Gloe recorded six digs in the match, but it was enough to make her the 16th member of DWU volleyball to reach that mark. Madeline Else recorded 37 assists, while Hanna Reiff tallied a team high 25 kills.
Game Two
Dakota Wesleyan made quick work of Benedictine in the first set, putting up 22-points before the Ravens reach double digits. After the 6-6 tie early on, the Tigers ran up the score on a 12-0 run that Benedictine attempted to halt with a timeout. Before the Ravens knew it DWU was leading by 17-6. The Ravens made back-to-back attacking errors late in the opening set as Else connected with Dwight for the kill as DWU won the opening set 25-12.
Opening the second set, the Ravens couldn't keep up with Dakota Wesleyan as the Tigers grabbed another big seven-point lead early on. Gloe and Miller each got in on the action late in the set giving DWU a seven then eight-point lead. Dakota Wesleyan earned their second largest lead of the game at 24-15 after Else and Brunsing teamed up for the kill. The Tigers got the set two win 25-14 on a Raven service error as they now had a commanding 2-0 match advantage.
Dakota Wesleyan stayed hot through the third set, getting another dominating lead 13-6. Dwight handed the Tigers their largest lead of the third set after she hammered home a set from Else for the 20-10 lead. Neither team took a timeout in the third set, as the Ravens were trying to claw their way back into the set but ran out of time as Gloe and Miller tallied the final two kills the Tigers had in the set for the 25-17 win and the 3-0 match sweep.
Dakota Wesleyan hit their best in the third set, putting down 16 kills and only two errors on 34 attacks. The Tigers held the Ravens to hitting in the negatives during the first and second set; then only holding them to hitting .182 percent in the final set. Overall, Benedictine only hit .045 percent as the Tigers hit .388 percent in the match. Dwight led the way for DWU with 18 kills and her highest hitting percentage this year of .720 percent. Else set up 33 assists on her stat sheet and Reiff tallied 16 digs.
Up Next
Tiger volleyball opens conference play on Wednesday, September 7. The Tigers will travel to Sioux Center, Iowa, and battle against No. 23 Dordt. The Tigers and Defenders will square off at 7:30 p.m..