No. 9 Warriors Open GPAC Play with Sweep of Doane

CRETE, Neb. – Play within the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) began on Wednesday night for No. 9 Midland University as it traveled to face Doane University. The Warriors, who held onto their No. 9 ranking in the NAIA Coaches' Poll earned the straight-set sweep; 25-20, 25-15, 25-19.

"I think the team was disappointed in how we played tonight," said head coach Paul Giesselmann. "Our defense and our setting weren't at the level we expected and we had way too many hitting errors. With all of that, I think our girls did a really good job of finding other ways to score. Any time you can get a road sweep, it's a good night in the GPAC."

The opening set saw the Tigers take control early, leading 11-7, before the Warriors went on a four-point run to tie things up. A 9-2 run put Midland in the driver's seat, 22-17. Addy Mosier had four kills in the set, including the final one to make it 25-20.

Midland opened the second with a 6-1 advantage but Doane quickly flipped the script. The home team went on an 11-1 run that was aided by four attack errors. MU would regroup and respond with six straight points with Brielle Power at the service line. That run was dwarfed by the monster rally put on by the Warriors to end the set. Trailing 15-13, they scored 12 unanswered to move ahead in the match.

Cortlyn Schaefer, Lauryn Samuelson, and Lauren Williams each had a big hand in the run combining for five kills and two blocks.

After a 3-0 run by Doane in the third as they looked to get back into the match, Midland worked itself even at 8-8. After another tie at 11-11, Midland took control of the final set with an 8-3 run. Williams' kill put them up 24-19 and then an attack error by the Tigers sealed the sweep.

On the night, Midland hit just .115 with 40 kills and 25 errors. Doane had a sub-zero hitting percentage (-.033) with 23 kills and 27 miscues.

Leading the way for the Warriors' attack was Williams with 11 kills. Close behind her were Abby Ringler (9), and Mosier (8). Three others; Schaefer (5), Samuelson (3), and Jacki Apel (3), had multiple kills behind the setting of Brielle Power, Brena Mackling, and Hailee Martinez.

Power paced the setting trio with 17 assists while Mackling had 13 and Martinez finished with 3.

Delanie Vallinch led the defensive charge in the back row. She tallied 17 digs while Kailyn Scott and Power each finished with 7 each.

At the net, Midland had eight total blocks. Ringler had a solo stuff to go with a pair of assists while Samuelson had a hand on five and Williams was in on four blocks.

Up next for Midland (4-2, 1-0 GPAC) will be three matches at the Labor Day Classic. The event up in North Sioux City, South Dakota gets underway on Friday with the Warriors facing (RV) The Master's (8-1) at 12:00 p.m. On Saturday, Midland will take on (RV) Rocky Mountain (5-3) and No. 6 Park (3-0) at 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., respectively.