Volleyball Upsets No. 1 Midland; Taylor Collects Career High 23 Kills
Hastings, NE – Lynn Farrell Arena was the place to be as NAIA No. 1 Midland came to town to take on the Hastings College women’s volleyball team and it turned into an absolute thriller. Just as Hastings did one year ago, the Lady Broncos defeated the Warriors in 25-19, 19-25, 21-25, 25-16, 15-12 in front of a rowdy crowd.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
19 | 25 | 25 | 16 | 12 | 2 |
|
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25 | 19 | 21 | 25 | 15 | 3 |
Team Stats
Midland
| Game Statistics | Midland | Hastings |
|---|---|---|
| Hitting % | .153 | .213 |
| Blocks | 9.0 | 17.0 |
| Digs | 56 | 55 |
| Aces | 6 | 2 |
Hastings, NE – Lynn Farrell Arena was the place to be as NAIA No. 1 Midland came to town to take on the Hastings College women's volleyball team and it turned into an absolute thriller. Just as Hastings did one year ago, the Lady Broncos defeated the Warriors in 25-19, 19-25, 21-25, 25-16, 15-12 in front of a rowdy crowd.
It was also a night where Marlee Taylor seemed unstoppable when she was on the floor as she started the night a perfect 4-for-4 on kills.
Hastings jumped out to a quick lead in set one and then back-to-back kills from Majesta Valasek set HC on a 5-0 run. Two Warrior errors followed by an Amani Monroe block got the crowd into it and then Peyton Roper hammered home one of her 12 kills to make it 15-7.
Midland was really never able to threaten the rest of the way as Hastings won set one 25-19.
Hastings seemed to be in great position to take a 2-0 lead as Midland's Paul Giesellmann called a timeout trailing 17-14. This is also the rotation where Taylor was not on the floor and the Warriors took full advantage ending the set on an 11-2 run to tie the match 1-1.
Set three stayed pretty tight as Midland holding a slight 11-10 lead before going on a little 3-0 run. Hastings wouldn't let this set get away as Taylor picked up a kill and then two blocks from Rachel Hefta and Roper tied things up 15-15. The set stayed tied until the Warriors' setting Hope Leimbach picked up a rare kills followed by an Abbey Ringler kills and a block from Ringler and Leimbach made it 23-20. Midland looked to have control of the match with the 25-21 set three victory.
The Lady Broncos had other plans in set four going on a 6-1 run to go up 17-11 highlighted by kills from Monroe and Taylor along with a big block from Hefta and Roper. Hastings then took the wind out of the Warrior sails when Majesta Valasek kill made it 19-13 followed by a Lauren Dirks service ace. Makenna Asher then connected with Monroe for the kill as a set five seemed inevitable.
Once HC secured set four 25-16, it was Midland that grabbed the momentum opening up a 9-5 lead. Hastings was resilient as Asher went back to Valasek for the kill to make it 9-6. Monroe then picked up a solo block that really brought the crowd back to life. A Tayliyah Flores attack error made it 9-8 but an Asher service error slowed the momentum but just for a moment.
Hastings was caught out of system but Ava Lovitt just punched a ball over the net catching the Warriors off guard for her third kill of the night. Hastings then tied the set when Asher dug up the tough Flores attach and Taylor then tipped the ball over the net again catching Midland off guard for the kill. It was at this time a very rare stoppage of play for blood on the court as the race was on to five points.
Following the stoppage, Hastings was in a position to send over a free ball as Midland was in system but Roper slid over and blocked the Flores attack bringing the crowd to an absolute roar as Midland called a timeout. Midland came right back with a Flores kill but Hastings answered right back going to Taylor on the outside for the kill to make it 12-11. Asher decided well if its not broken, don't fix it going right back to Taylor as she tooled the attack of the block for the kill and the 13-11 lead. Midland took its final timeout.
The crowd is absolutely going crazy and then erupted when Taylor picked up kill 23 on the night which is a career high. Two points later, Asher went to the right side where Roper hammered home the kill for the five-set upset of No. 1 Midland.
It was certainly a night Taylor will never forget with her career high 23 kills to go along with her career high .513 hitting percentage. Valasek added 10 kills, Monroe finished with eight kills and Roper added seven kills.
Asher finished with a team high 42 assists while Miriam Miller led the team with 16 digs. Another big stat in the game was blocks as Hastings finished with a total of 17 blocks while Midland finished with nine.
For the match, Hastings hit .213 while holding the No. 1 Warriors to .153.
Hastings improves to 10-4 (2-2) on the year and will be back in action Friday Sept. 16 taking part in the Ottawa Tournament taking on Saint Mary (KS) with first serve set for 1:30 pm. down in Ottawa, KS.
