OWENSBORO, Ky. – The Tiffin University women's volleyball team continued their dominant run through Great Midwest Athletic Conference action, taking down the Panthers of Kentucky Wesleyan College 3-1 on Friday evening. The Dragons have now won seven-straight matches, including four-straight G-MAC contests.
With the win, Tiffin improves to 9-3 overall and 4-0 in the G-MAC, while Kentucky Wesleyan falls to 7-6 on the year and 2-3 in the conference.
The Dragons enjoyed an advantage rarely seen in a road game, much less an away contest in another time zone, as they were buoyed by a raucous visitor section made up of Tiffin's men's and women's soccer teams who will be in action against the Panthers tomorrow afternoon.
As a team, the Dragons hit .234 as they committed half the number of attack errors (13) as did KWC (26). Jenna Huffman and Amanda Curry had big games up front for the Dragons, with 15 and 16 kills, respectively, while Grace Schreiber held down the middle with a four-kill, five-block effort. Loryn Huffman also contributed 16 digs and 10 assists, while Emily Weithman dished out 29 assists.
After the Panthers jumped out to an early 6-3 lead on their home court, the Dragons came back with a 8-3 run that forced a Kentucky Wesleyan timeout with the score 11-7 in favor of Tiffin. A few plays later, the Dragons' lead had decreased by one point to three, 19-16, before a huge block from Sydney Gilland and Grace Schreiber started a 5-1 Tiffin run. A kill from Kyley Keene and multiple Panther errors led to set point, before Schreiber slammed down a kill to give the Dragons a 1-0 advantage with a 25-17 set one win.
Kentucky Wesleyan started set two strongly as well, again grabbing a 6-3 lead after a couple of Tiffin errors. Once again, though, the Dragons marched right back and tied it at seven on another tandem block from Gilland and Schreiber. The Panthers quickly regained the advantage, however, taking a 12-9 lead. The Dragons followed with six unanswered, highlighted by an ace on a perfectly placed Emily Weithman serve and a thundering kill from Jenna Huffman, to go up 15-12. That lead grew to 19-15 after an Amanda Curry kill, forcing a Kentucky Wesleyan timeout. Once again, the Dragons closed the set very well, scoring nine of the last 12 points to earn a 25-18 set two victory.
Set three saw another hot start from the Panthers, as a 9-3 KWC run forced a Dragon timeout. It did not get much better from there for Tiffin, as the closest the Dragons would get in the remainder of the set was six points at 16-10. Kentucky Wesleyan closed on a 9-4 run to cut Tiffin's set lead in half, 2-1, with a 25-14 win. The Dragons mustered just a .051 hitting percentage in the frame compared to .405 for the Panthers.
Set four was the exact opposite, as Tiffin regrouped to hit .432 as a team and shut down Kentucky Wesleyan to the tune of .053. The Dragons did well to respond to the momentum built by the Panthers from the third set, as the teams exchanged points in the early going before a 5-0 Tiffin run, including two Curry kills, gave the Dragons a seven-point advantage at 17-10. With the momentum swung fully back in their favor, Tiffin closed set four with an 8-4 run to take the set (25-14) and the match (3-1).
The Dragons are back in action tomorrow afternoon with leg two of their southward road trip as they continue down to Nashville to take on Trevecca Nazarene University at 1:00 p.m. CT (2:00 p.m. ET).