Tiffin Trounces Walsh to Advance to GMAC Final

Tiffin Trounces Walsh to Advance to GMAC Final

HILLSDALE, Mich. - Tiffin volleyball will be making their first-ever trip to a conference title game after taking down Walsh University 3-1 (25-19, 23-25, 25-12, 25-20) in the semifinals of the GMAC Championships on Friday night.

The two-seed Dragons advance to the title match on Saturday to face top-seed and tournament host Hillsdale. Tiffin will be looking to make history with a big upset of the Chargers, as the No. 11 team in the country has not lost a GMAC game all season.

The Dragons relied on stellar play from their three members that were just named All-Conference a night before, led by first-teamer Jenna Huffman with 20 kills and 15 digs. Loryn Huffman dished out 46 assists and picked up 20 digs, while Sam Fallis went over the 30-dig mark for the second-straight game with 33 on the evening.

Two other Dragons were also in double-digit kills, with Grace Schreiber tallying 12 and Alicia Kessler recording 10. Schreiber also hit .611 in the match, slamming down her 12 kills on just 18 attempts and only one error.

Tiffin led for much of the first set, but could not pull away from the Cavaliers until the final moments. Holding a 19-18 lead, a Kyndall Hellyer kill sparked a 6-1 run over the rest of the set to give the Dragons a 1-0 advantage.

Walsh battled back with a victory in set two, fending off a furious Dragon rally late to take the frame by two points, 25-23.

The Dragons were not going to let the Cavaliers take a lead in the match, however, as after holding a 13-10 advantage midway through set three, Tiffin scored the next seven points in a row and 12 of the last 14 to run away with the set and grab a 2-1 match lead.

Tiffin used that momentum to build a lead in set four and held on late as back-to-back kills from Hellyer and Jenna Huffman ended the match and set the Dragons to the championship game.

The Dragons and Chargers will meet at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday at Hillsdale's Potter Arena to decide the GMAC Tournament champion.