OMAHA, Neb. – Looking to close out its nonconference schedule on a high note, No. 6 Midland University took to the court at the CSM Labor Day Classic on Saturday. Opening up the day with a match against The Master’s University, the teams went to a deciding set with the Warriors prevailing (25-20, 25-20, 18-25, 12-25, 15-7). The final match of the day saw a ranked meeting as No. 23 University of Providence lined up on the other side of the net. The Warriors dropped the match in straight sets (25-17, 25-21, 25-23) and finished nonconference play with a 4-6 record.
Midland 3, Master’s 2
The Warriors used a seven-point swing at the onset to garner an 8-3 which forced a quick timeout from the Mustangs. During the run, Jacki Apel helped set the tone with a pair of kills and a block assist. The Master’s got back into it though as it forced a deadlock at 12-12 and 13-13 before taking a brief lead. A five-point rally by the Warriors put them back in front and on the downward slope toward taking the opening set. Brooklynn Snyder closed out the 25-20 win with a kill as Midland hit .216 on the attack while holding its counterpart to a .109 mark.
In the second, the Warriors had a balanced attack with six players earning multiple kills. The multiple looks kept the Mustangs at bay as they saw their early 3-0 lead evaporate. Midland pulled even at 9-9 and then after swapping a few points, went on a six-point rally to move up 18-12. The lead was too much to overcome as the Warriors won 25-20 once more. While their kills rose to 18 in the second, the Warriors’ hitting percentage dipped to .178 behind 10 miscues. Leading the way in kills was Claire Johnson with five, followed by Lauren Jones and Snyder with three each.
After going up early in the third, Midland fell behind as The Master’s rode a 9-2 run. With the lead and momentum on their side, the Mustangs kept the advantage as they limited the Warriors’ chances. A three-point run closed out the set, 25-18, to avoid the sweep. Midland’s numbers plummeted in the third as it hit .056 with 10 kills and 8 errors. The Master’s jumped its hitting mark up to .194 with nine kills and three miscues.
The fourth set started as poorly as possible for Midland, giving up the first eight points. The Mustangs would go pole to pole to take the set and force a decisive fifth set. The Master’s hit a match-best .300 with a dozen kills and three errors. Midland was limited to seven kills with eight errors, hitting a -.029.
After the captain’s meeting to determine serve in the fifth, the Warriors huddled on the sideline to regroup for the first-to-fifteen set. The message was received from the coaching staff as Midland had an 8-3 lead at the turn. The Master’s were unable to muster up anything for the final run and the Warriors won 15-7. Jones came up big during her rotation with four kills. Johnson and Lauren Williams each added two kills as Midland scored 10 kills in the short set and hit .471.
For the match, Lauren Jones and Brooklynn Snyder led the way on the attack. Snyder had 11 kills while Jones finished with a team-high 12. Midland had seven blocks at the net with Jacki Apel getting a solo stop to go along with six assists. Lauren Williams had three blocks assists to go along with her five kills.
The Warriors were solid at the service line with six aces. Midland finished with a season-high 80 digs. Delanie Vallinch led the way with 30, setting a new career high. Joining her in double digits was Brena Mackling with 12 while Kailyn Scott and Stella Kuehl had 9 and 8 digs, respectively.
Providence 3, Midland 0
In their final match of the weekend, the Warriors faced a tough task against the No. 23-ranked Argos. After splitting the first six points, Midland fell behind as Providence went on a four-point surge. The wave of points kept coming as another run made it 18-10, forcing the Warriors to use both of their timeouts in the last run. The Argos coasted to a 25-17 set-one win behind a .250 hitting mark. MU wasn’t too far off of its season average, hitting .114 in the first. Brooklynn Snyder and Lauren Jones each had four kills in the opening frame.
It was close early on in the second set as the teams were tied 7-7. A three-point rally by the Warriors gave them a little breathing room but the Argos slowly battled their way back. Forcing a tie at 19-19 during a 4-1 run, UP went up 21-20. The change in momentum was evident as the Warriors used up their timeouts in hopes of flipping it back to their side of the net. The Argos held tight to earn the set win, 25-21.
Trailing by two sets, Midland needed a strong start to the third in hopes of extending the match. Their counterparts had other ideas as they looked to head back home with a weekend split of four matches. The Warriors went up 11-7 but the Argos quickly made up ground, tying the set at 17-17. A 5-1 run put them on the doorstep of the sweep and despite Midland pulling back with a point late, Providence closed it out, 25-23, for the straight-set win.
For the match, the Warriors hit .144 while the Argos had a .222 hitting mark. Midland had 11 service errors and was limited to just four blocks at the net.
Offensively, Brooklynn Snyder was the lone player with double-digit kills at 13. Jacki Apel and Lauren Jones were the next two highest hitters with 7 kills each.
Delanie Vallinch paced the defensive back row with 15 digs. Kailyn Scott was one dig away from double figures at nine while Brena Mackling had eight.
“It was a mixed bag with our team today,” said head coach Paul Giesselmann at the end of the day. “In the first match, we got off to a great start. I thought we played some high-level volleyball in games one and two, and then we just really lost our focus in games three and four. That’s been a little bit of the story of our season.
“I was really proud of our team flipped the light switch and were locked in for game five against The Master’s. I thought that really showed a lot of mental toughness on our players’ part and it was a great experience for us to have to go through that.
“We turned around and played a great ranked team out of Montana and they really beat us at their own game,” commented Coach Giesselmann about the match with Providence. “We pride ourselves on being a team with great defense with the block and in the back row in the serve. They just beat us in every phase of the game. They outdug us. Our blocking was very poor. Serving and various rotations were where we needed them to be. I just felt like we weren’t mentally and physically ready to play in that match. These are things that we have to keep working on.
“We’ve got to get better in practice on Monday as we start getting ready for conference play. Every night you know it’s going be tough but we just got to keep working and getting better at not making the mental mistakes and controlling what we can control.”
Midland (4-6) will turn its focus to the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) now after wrapping up play in the Labor Day Classic. The first test of the second part of the season comes on Wednesday as the Warriors take on preseason No. 17-ranked College of Saint Mary. First serve between the GPAC rivals is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Lied Fitness Center in Omaha.
