Fremont, Neb. – Dakota Wesleyan volleyball earns the four-set win over no. 10 Midland. The Tigers by no means turned in a dominant performance with their .091 attack percentage compared to the Warriors .136 percentage. Midland racked up a staggering 64 total errors in the game which included 17 service errors and 41 attack errors. DWU had a more balanced attack in this one with Dwight leading the way with 12 kills followed by Elizabeth Tyler with eight, Logan Bly and Emily Dale with six, and Abigail Brunsing adding five kills.
The Quick Details vs. Dakota State
Score:
(RV) DWU 3 – No. 10 MID 1 (25-21, 20-25, 30-28, 26-24)
Records:
(RV) DWU 15-10 (5-4 GPAC)
No. 10 MID 9-8 (5-4 GPAC)
Recap
The Tigers won set one 25-21 behind 11 kills and a .121 attack percentage. DWU held the Warriors to a match worse .083 attack percentage in the set. Ady Dwight led the way with her six kills and two blocks. Early in the set DWU jumped out to a 7-3 lead drawing a Midland timeout. During that run Dwight recorded three kills to fuel the Tiger offense. Midland throughout the rest of the set threatened that Tiger lead but never claimed a lead of their own. The Warriors tied the score at 15,16,17, and 18 but never grabbed a lead of their own. With the score tied at 18, DWU put their foot down and closed the Warriors out on a 7-3 run for a 25-21 set one win.
Set two the Warriors earned the 25-20 set win. The Tigers were held to a game-low .021 attack percentage in the set with nine kills and almost just as many errors with eight in the set. Midland also struggled with errors recording nine in the set but had 15 kills. Early in the set it was DWU that held a 5-2 lead, but it was a lead Midland reclaimed quickly with their 6-1 run. DWU tied it back up at eight with back-to-back points from Elizabeth Tyler off a kill and ace. This was where Midland pulled away and put the set out of reach with their biggest run of the match at 8-0, drawing two timeouts from Wilber to try and slow down the MID attack. With the score at 21-12 later in the set and the lead looking insurmountable, the Tigers again showed how resilient and scrappy of a team they are with a big 6-0 run to bring them within three at 21-18. The Tigers took advantage of five Warrior attack errors during the run. Midland used a timeout to regroup and close the set out 4-2 out of the timeout for a 25-20 set two win.
The Tigers took sets three and four going to extra points in both. It wasn't pretty in either set but the scrappy Tigers squad did enough to keep themselves in both sets and make the plays they needed to when it mattered most. Good teams need to find a way to win when they aren't playing their best brand of ball, and the Tigers did just that in sets three and four. In set three the score went to 30 points for a 30-28 set win for DWU. With the 30 points the Tigers were only able to record eight kills in the set with four errors for only a .082 attack percentage. The Warriors collected a staggering 22 kills in the set but had an even more staggering 15 attack errors in the set three alone. With the 15 attack errors the Warriors committed a total of six set and service errors, bringing their total to 21 points they gave the Tigers. Of the 15 attack errors only four were the result of a DWU block. Late in the set Dakota Wesleyan was facing set point at 28-27 but got three costly errors from Midland that gave them the 30-28 set win and 2-1 set advantage.
Set four was a lot of the same with DWU only recording 10 kills compared to MID 21 kills, but the difference being the Tigers only committed three attack errors compared to the Warriors nine. It was the service line mistakes that proved to be the difference in set four as the Warriors had six errors. Two of the six errors coming down the stretch which was big for the Tigers to keep momentum on their side. DWU got the first point in the set and claimed an early lead that the Warriors threatened and even tied at points in the match, but Midland never held the lead in the fourth set. There were nine ties in the fourth set, but the Tigers always reclaimed that lead usually thanks to a Midland self-inflicted error. With the score tied at 24 all and the Warriors coming off back-to-back kills to tie it, Abigail Brunsing and Dwight put the game away with back-to-back kills and sealing the four-set win for the Tigers. Tya Weideman turned in a strong effort in the back row for the Tigers with 27 digs followed by Callie Slagter with 13, Carlee Laubach with 12, and Tyler with 10.
Head-to-Head (Midland)
- Dakota Wesleyan is now 2-3 in the last five matchups with Midland.
- DWU lost the last matchup with MID in three straight sets.
Up Next
The Tigers are back on the court against the No. 1 team in the country in Concordia University, tomorrow in Seward, Neb. First serve is set for 3:00 p.m.