The Dragons traveled for another four-match tournament, this time to Allendale, Michigan, to take part in the Grand Rapids Downtown Classic hosted by Grand Valley State University.
Tiffin matched up against the hosts for game one, resulting in a 3-1 (25-13, 26-28, 25-18, 25-17) defeat before later sweeping Colorado Christian, 3-0 (28-26, 25-20, 25-20).
Tiffin vs. Grand Valley State
The Dragons started the match off slowly and fell behind early in the first set. Unable to recover, the Lakers took set one rather handedly, 25-13, for a 1-0 lead.
Tiffin bounced back in set number two, however, after a kill by Kenedi Goon followed by a service ace from Marissa Sharpe started an 8-1 run which earned it an 11-4 advantage. GVSU responded with a run of its own and eventually pulled back to within one at 13-12. The Dragons held a 20-17 lead before the Lakers tied things up at 20 apiece. The two teams traded blows until a service error followed by an attack error by GVSU handed Tiffin the set to level the match at 1-1.
It was a strong start once again for the Dragons in the third set, jumping out to a 5-1 lead. The Lakers came back to tie the set at 6-6 and went on to win it, 25-18, before seeing out the victory in set number four.
Goon led the Dragons in both kills (9) for the match as well as hitting percentage (.147). She also added five total blocks on the defensive end, just behind sophomore Kaylee Freund with six total. Josie Reinhart recorded eight kills and eight digs while Olivia Karhoff led the team in digs with a season-high 16. Alivia Rew and Taylor Peterson each added five kills as well.
Tiffin vs. Colorado Christian
Tiffin fell behind slightly on a couple of occasions during the first set, but each time was able to close the gap. CCU held set-point advantage at 24-21 before the Dragons went on a 3-0 run which included kills by Reinhart and Freund to level the set. Tied at 26, Goon delivered a kill followed by a service ace from Karhoff to earn a 1-0 lead.
Set number two was close with both teams tied late in the set at 17. The Dragons closed out the set with an 8-3 run led by Wakaya Wilson with two kills to go up by two.
Tiffin stayed on a roll entering the third and final set, going up 4-0 to start off. CCU did not back down, fighting back to within one at 9-8. A 9-2 run from the Dragons earned them a comfortable lead once again, which they carried out through the remainder of the match.
Tiffin was led by Goon in kills for the second match in a row with 13. She was followed closely by Wilson with 11 and Reinhart with seven. Addison Conti tallied 30 assists in total and added two aces. Defensively, Karhoff finished with a game-high 14 digs and contributed six assists on the offensive end. Tiffin posted a massive 22 total team blocks, led by Freund with eight and Goon with seven.
The Grand Rapids Downtown Classic continues for the Dragons with two matches tomorrow, September 9th. Tiffin first faces Clarion at 10 a.m. before matching up against Davenport at 1 p.m.