COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Tiffin University women's volleyball team has been virtually unstoppable this season, and that continued Friday evening as the Dragons easily handled Ohio Dominican University, defeating the Panthers in straight sets 25-16, 25-18, 25-14 to improve to 12-3 overall and a perfect 7-0 in the G-MAC.
The win is Tiffin's 10th in a row, equaling the best Division II streak in program history. The longest overall win streak in Dragon history (11 games) came in 1991, and Tiffin just needs a victory at Ohio Valley tomorrow night to tie the mark. The 12-3 overall start to the season is also the best start to a campaign during the Dragons' time in Division II, and is also tied with that 1991 team for the best start in program history.
In tonight's game against the Panthers, the Dragons had no trouble from start to finish, recording their best hitting percentage of the season (.394), a full .099 points higher than the second-highest output. Meanwhile, Ohio Dominican was held to just a .143 attack percentage.
Individually, Jenna Huffman starred once again, hitting an incredible .667 with 13 kills and just one error on 18 attempts. The junior also tallied six digs and seven total blocks. Grace Schreiber also had an impressive offensive effort, hitting .636 with seven kills and no errors. Kyley Keene led the Dragons with 11 digs, and Sam Fallis contributed eight digs to go with three aces.
Despite the lopsided scores at the end of each set, Ohio Dominican started the opening frame strong, as three-straight Panther kills tied the game at seven early. However, the Dragons proceeded to then score the next eight points and 13 of the next 14, taking a 20-8 lead. The Panthers battled back a bit in the final moments of the set, but Tiffin's advantage was far too much to overcome as a Schreiber kill gave the Dragons the 25-16 victory.
Set two was relatively closer throughout, as the Dragons were not able to pull away from the Panthers and held about a four-point advantage for most of the frame. Tiffin was finally able to get a bit more separation late, as a Schreiber kill and Fallis ace gave the Dragons a 22-16 lead. The teams traded points for the rest of the set, culminating with a Jenna Huffman kill that gave TU the 25-18 win.
Set three was never really that close, as Tiffin jumped out to leads of 5-1 and 12-6 before a Kyndall Hellyer kill capped an 8-0 Dragon run that put the visitors on top 20-8. From there, kills by Jenna Huffman, Amanda Curry, Schreiber twice, and Sydney Gilland closed out the set 25-14 and gave Tiffin their eighth sweep of the year.
As mentioned, the Dragons continue their road trip tomorrow afternoon as they travel down to Ohio Valley University to take on the Scots at 1:00 p.m.