No. 22 Warriors Grind Out Four-Set Win Over Hastings

FREMONT, Neb. – Playing in its penultimate match of the regular season, No. 22 Midland University hosted Hastings College on Wednesday night inside the Wikert Event Center. After winning the first two sets, the Warriors dropped the third to the Broncos but rallied to secure a four-set victory (25-21, 25-17, 23-25, 25-17).

The teams were neck and neck for most of the opening set, with neither side able to sustain a rally beyond two points. After 12 ties through the first 28 points, Midland started to pull ahead with a four-point run to go up 18-16. The Hastings sideline sensed the momentum shift and called a timeout, but the Warriors' rally extended to 7-1.

Trailing 21-15, the Broncos took their second timeout and broke the Warriors' run. After earning a side-out, Hastings went on a 4-1 spurt to pull within three at 23-20. A kill from Abbey Ringler brought Midland to set point, and a final kill by Brooklynn Snyder clinched the set at 25-21.

Both teams came out strong offensively, hitting above their season averages. Midland hit .200, while Hastings posted its best-attacking set of the night at .222. Snyder led MU with five kills, and Claire Johnson, Cameran Jansky, and Ringler each added a pair.

The second set followed a similar script at first, with the teams tied through the first 18 points. With Kailyn Scott serving, the Warriors went on an 8-1 run to seize control at 17-10.

After burning both timeouts during the rally, the Broncos put together a brief run but got no closer than four points, prompting a Midland timeout. The Warriors responded with a renewed focus and closed the set on a 6-2 run, winning 25-17. Snyder contributed four more kills, and teammates Apel, Johnson, Brena Mackling, and Lauren Jones each added two kills. Midland hit a match-best .225 in the set, while Hastings' hitting percentage dropped to .128 with seven errors.

Looking for their 10th sweep of the season, Midland jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the third set. Hastings, trailing 14-8, found its rhythm and went on a four-point run to pull within two. A six-point rally put the Broncos ahead 18-17.

After Midland briefly regained the lead, Hastings responded with back-to-back three-point runs to reach set point at 24-21. The Warriors scored twice to close the gap, forcing a Broncos timeout, but Hastings held on to win the set 25-23.

Hastings carried momentum into the fourth set, taking an early 8-6 lead. Midland responded with an eight-point run to shift control and extended their lead to 18-10. After the Broncos' final timeout, the Warriors maintained their edge, closing out the set 25-17 to win the match.

"Hastings is a good team with a lot of weapons. I liked the way our team played tonight; they followed the game plan and played smart," commented head coach Paul Giesselmann. "You have to approach Hastings a certain way. They have a great libero, and we needed to minimize her impact. I thought we did a good job for most of the match."

"Because they have such a talented libero and other skilled players, we knew there would be some long rallies. We talked with the team about staying disciplined and letting the opponent make errors. We did that well in the first two sets."

Brooklynn Snyder and Abbey Ringler led the Warriors' attack with 13 and 10 kills, respectively. Midland hit .168 as a team, guided by the setting duo of Stella Kuehl, who had a match-high 22 assists, and Brena Mackling, who added 21. Kailyn Scott and Delanie Vallinch anchored the back row with 15 digs each, backed by a Warriors defense at the net that tallied 13 blocks. Ringler assisted on eight blocks, and Jacki Apel contributed seven.

With one match left in the conference schedule, the Warriors have secured the third seed behind Northwestern and Concordia.

No. 22 Midland (16-9, 12-3 GPAC) will wrap up the regular season next Tuesday, November 5, with a home match against No. 2 Concordia (21-2, 14-1 GPAC) at 7:30 p.m. in Fremont. Before the match, Midland will honor its seniors and their families.