DCVB Goes .500 on the Road
The Defiance College volleyball team began play over the weekend against Baldwin Wallace at 2pm in Berea, Ohio. The Jackets came out struggling against BW with multiple errors, finding themselves in an 8-0 deficit. Occasional kills and service aces from various Yellow Jackets helped close the gap, but it unfortunately was not enough, and Defiance lost set one 15-25.
Set two was more of a battle between the two Yellow Jacket teams. Defiance started the game tying it 4-4. Baldwin Wallace then ran their lead up to 7-16 due to many Defiance errors. Defiance was able to bring it back to a 14-18 deficit, but was unable to catch up, and lost 17-25.
Defiance struggled with many errors in set three, starting out in a 6-0 deficit. The two Jacket teams traded points occasionally, but Baldwin Wallace was able to run away with the lead, winning the third and final set 25-10.
In the night game, Defiance came back with fight and ready to play against John Carroll University. The Jackets started out strong with three aces in a row from Marissa Windau. After more kills from Defiance and errors from John Carroll, the Jackets found themselves up 13-3. The Jackets then ran away with the lead, winning 25-10.
Set two found the Jackets up 8-2 quickly due to kills and Blue Streak errors. After service aces by Sydney Unger and Abby Cronin and multiple kills from Windau, Danielle Robbins, and Brooke Plummer, Defiance pulled away to a 25-15 win.
In the final set of the night, the Yellow Jackets started out slow, finding themselves behind 1-4. After multiple Blue Streak errors and kills from Windau, Plummer, and Jessi Davis, the Jackets were up 18-14. Services aces, kills, and more John Carroll errors helped Defiance to a 25-19 win.
Defiance started out Saturday morning against Ohio Northern University with a hard fought set one. The Jackets started out in a 3-8 deficit, but quickly jumped back to only being down by one with a score of 13-14. Despite kills from multiple Yellow Jackets, the Polar Bears offense and blocks stopped the Jackets run. ONU won the first set 25-23.
The Yellow Jackets started set two slow finding themselves in a 3-10 deficit. Various kills from Emma Seitz, Plummer, Windau, and Robbins unfortunately were not enough to overcome Defiance errors. The Jackets lost set two 15-25.
Set three was another slow start for the Jackets with a 4-13 deficit. Kills from Robbins, Seitz, Plummer, and Jenni Davis closed the gap to 11-17. Unfortunately, the Polar Bears offense combined with Yellow Jacket errors led to a 15-25 loss.
The volleyball team fought hard against Capital University in the final game of the weekend. Set one started with a back and forth battle from the beginning. The Jackets found themselves down 17-21. Several Crusader errors and service aces from Windau and Jenni Davis helped to push Defiance by Capital with a 28-26 win.
Set two was a slow start for the Jackets, but they quickly came back to tie the set 10-10. The two teams battled back and forth, each tallying kills and service aces to tie the game again at 23-23. Unfortunately, Capital’s offense was too much and Defiance lost set two 23-25.
Defiance came back in set three seeking revenge putting up nine points right away making the score 9-1. That run included three service aces from Sydney Unger and kills from Seitz and the Davis Twins. At that point, the Jackets ran away with the lead recording multiple service aces and kills, and winning 25-15.
The Yellow Jackets started out with another strong lead in set four at 7-1. Capital was able to close the gap to 10-9 while taking advantage of Defiance errors. After battling back and forth for a few points, the Jackets ran away with the lead, winning the final set 25-18.
The Yellow Jackets struggled this weekend during their games that they lost and played very well in the games they won. When asked what the difference was between the games, Co-Captain Marissa Windau said, “I think the biggest difference is being mentally tough. A large learning curve that we need to overcome this year is knowing to not play to our opponents level. Having confidence in our skill level is our key to success.” The Defiance College volleyball team will be back in action Saturday the 30th at 1:30pm in their first home game of the season.
Written by Michaela Bauer
