Madison, S.D. – No. 10 Dakota Wesleyan volleyball gets out of DSU Memorial Fieldhouse intact after a tough five-set bout with the Trojans. Five different players either tied or set career highs in the match.
The Quick Details
Score:
#10 DWU 3 – DSU 2 (25-18, 19-25, 22-25, 25-10, 16-14)
Records:
#10 DWU 17-4
DSU 13-13
How It Happened
Newly named No. 10 Dakota Wesleyan got off to a hot start in the first set of the evening with a 10-5 lead. The Tiger attack was spread between several players as Ady Dwight, Madeline Else, Emily Dale, and Mariah Gloe all chipped in for the early lead. Later in the set, Dakota State made a run to get back into the match, putting up a 4-0 run to come within one point of tying the set, 14-13. Dale got DWU back on track shortly after, starting a four-point run, and pushing the lead back to 21-16. With the commanding five-point lead, the Trojans were allowed only two more points in the set before Abigail Brunsing earned DWU set point for the 25-18 win and the 1-0 match lead.
The Tigers got off to a hot start, again: in the second set with a 7-2 lead right away. The Trojans slowly began to chip away at the DWU lead before climbing even with DWU at 14-14 after a Tiger attacking error. After knotting the set even, at 14 each, DSU went on a six-point run to lead DWU 20-16. Dakota Wesleyan was unable to regain the lead as the Tigers were held to their lowest hitting percentage of the five sets at .059. Dakota State grabbed the second set 25-19 over the Tigers and brought the match even to 1-1.
DWU played a majority; of the third set from behind after Mackenzie Miller got the kill sending Dannielle Burns back to serve. The Tigers grabbed a free; point on a DSU attacking error extending their lead to 9-6. After that three-point lead, the Trojans put five unanswered points on the board to lead DWU 11-9. The Tigers couldn't commandeer in the third set, where they have been the most dominant this season. Dakota Wesleyan clawed back within two points, 18-20, after Gloe recorded a kill. The Trojans; continued to hit well against the Tigers, pushing their lead back to four points. In that same span, the Tigers notched a pair of kills from Dale as they continued to trail 20-24. DWU then started to find Dwight in the front row, but the DSU lead was too big to take the match lead as they dropped the third set 22-25 and now trailed 2-1 in the match.
Set four was all DWU; while they still have yet to hit their best in the match, they held DSU to hitting -.105 percent forcing eight errors. The Tigers grabbed the quick 3-0 lead; right away as the Trojans posted back-to-back-to-back attacking errors. Dwight followed that up with a kill of her own for the 4-0. Dakota State gained two points on a DWU attack error and a kill but still trailed 5-2; at this point. Dwight set another kill to the hardwood, giving the serve back to DWU as Tya Weideman stepped back to serve. Weideman started the rotation with a service ace before the Trojans were hit with a bad set and a ball-handling error, pushing the DWU lead to 9-2 and forcing a DSU timeout. Proceeding a small run from the Trojans, the Tigers put up a 10-1 run with kills from Dale, Brunsing, and Dwight: while also getting; key blocks from Else, Brunsing, and Dwight. The Tigers commanded the fourth set with a 25-10 win to bring the match even at 2-2 as we headed to a fifth set.
In the fifth and final set, DWU hit their best of the night, posting 14 kills on 31 attacks and zero errors. Now: the Trojans also hit their best all night, with 12 kills and one error on 35 attacks. The fifth set was back and forth, as neither team grabbed a lead of more than three points. DWU won the race to eight after a kill by Gloe for the short pause in play as teams switched sides of the court. Once play was resumed: DSU tallied a kill that tied the score; at 8-8. DWU pushed the lead back to two points after Millers' kill. With the Tigers leading 11-9, the national setter of the week in Else began to assist the national attacker of the week in Dwight and the Tiger athlete of the week in Dale to push DWU to the fifth set win 16-14 over the Trojans and the 3-2 match win avoiding the upset.
Overall, the Tigers hit .187 as a team, led by Dwight, with 24 kills. Dale also had a night posting 14 kills on 32 attacks with zero errors for a team-leading .438 hitting percentage. Dale's 14 kills also breaks her previous career high of ten she set back on September 27th against DSU at home. Gloe recorded a double-double on the evening with 13 kills and 24 digs, tying her career-high from the 2020 season. Else posted 62 assists, tying her previous career high, which she set back in September when DSU was in Mitchell. Hanna Reiff shattered her previous career high in digs after posting 43. Callie Slagter and Weideman; broke their career highs, posting 16 and 18 digs, respectively.
Up Next
No. 10 Tiger Volleyball is back in action on Saturday the 15th as they make the short drive to Yankton. The Tigers and Lancers of Mount Marty; are slated to get underway at 1:30 p.m. for the junior varsity teams and 3 p.m. for the varsity squads.