FREMONT, Neb. – Following a break from matches midweek, No. 20 Midland University was back on the court on Saturday as it hosted Doane University in a Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) in Fremont. The Warriors took advantage of their home floor inside the Wikert Event Center, sweeping past the Tigers (25-17, 25-19, 25-20).
The Midland defense at the net was tough from the onset. The Warriors forced the Tigers into six hitting errors in the first set while adding three blocks as a team. Getting an assist on each defensive stop was newly inserted Cameran Jansky, who was getting her first start in the rotation this season at a middle blocker position. Holding down the other middle spot was veteran Abbey Ringler who led the team with four kills in the first. Their play, combined with the miscues from the Doane attackers, led to a 25-17 win for Midland.
In the second set, the block party spread as the Warriors stuffed the Tigers a total of five times with Jansky and Jacki Apel both assisting on three stops. Brooklynn Snyder had a big frame with five kills and a solo block. Claire Johnson added four kills of her own while Ringler kept up her numbers with three more kills. Midland took the second set, 25-19, while hitting a match-best .448 on the attack with just two errors and 15 kills.
During the early part of the third, it looked as if Doane might avoid being swept for the eighth time this year as it matched points with Midland through the first 18 points. The Warriors broke the 9-9 tie with a kill from Lauren Jones followed by a block from Jansky and Jones. That sparked an 8-2 run and gave the home team the cushion it needed to complete the sweep. Apel picked up four kills and a solo block as the Warriors won, 25-20.
“Very happy to get the sweep today and get another conference win. We’ve been working on cleaning up our errors, particularly on the hitting side, and I thought our players did a much better job in the first two sets,” said head coach Paul Giesselmann after the match.
“We had eight errors in the third, so that’s something we still need to work on. Overall, I thought we did some really good things today. Cam [Jansky] getting her first start today, I thought she did a really good job. I thought our block and serve game today was the difference. Our setters did a really good job of distributing. When you look at the attempts and stuff, I thought it was a balanced offense. Now we have to get better in practice this week for an always challenging match out at Hastings.”
For the match, the duo of Brena Mackling and Stella Kuehl coordinated the Midland attack that hit .186 as a team. They did a good job of spreading the attacks with five players over 12 swings. Mackling finished with 14 set assists while Kuehl had 15.
Abbey Ringler finished with 7 kills to lead the team. Close behind were Brooklynn Snyder, Lauren Jones, and Claire Johnson with 6 kills each. Cameran Jansky led the blocking effort with 7 block assists. Jacki Apel added 5 while Ringer had 4 stops of the Tigers’ attack.
In the back row, Delanie Vallinch had 9 digs while Delainey Cast and Kailyn Scott both had 7. As a team, the Warriors had 37 digs off of the Tigers’ attack that hit -.010 for the match.
Next week, Midland (7-7, 3-1 GPAC) will be on the road to face Hastings (8-4, 2-2 GPAC) on Wednesday night. The teams will face off inside Lynn Farrell Arena at 7:30 p.m. on September 25 in Hastings, Neb.
