SEWARD, Neb. – In the final match of the regular season, No. 4-ranked Midland University was on the road taking on No. 5-ranked Concordia University in a key match to determine the final conference standings. The Warriors, who won a five-set thriller earlier in the season, won in straight sets (25-20, 25-23, 25-23). With the victory, Midland improves to 24-3 overall and 14-2 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC). Concordia falls to 21-4 and 12-4 in the conference.
It was a back-and-forth type of set to start things off inside Friedrich Arena. The teams played even through the first 30 points, with nine ties and four lead changes. Knotted up at 15-15, Midland took advantage of a bad attack from the Concordia to take over the lead. A block by Hope Leimbach and Abbey Ringler pushed them in front by two, forcing a timeout by the Bulldogs.
Following the timeout, Midland swapped points with Concordia before a three-point run sealed the first set win, 25-20. Addisyn Mosier had two kills in the stretch, sandwiching a Bulldog hitting error.
As everyone would’ve expected, set two was just as closely contested. Concordia clawed their way to a 12-9 lead before a 5-0 run by Midland put them in front. Savanna Berger started the rally while Ringler and Mosier had back-to-back kills to force the Bulldogs into their first timeout.
Coming out of the stoppage, Concordia responded with two blocks to tie the set up. Later on, a third block knotted the game up once more at 20-20. Taliyah Flores broke the tie with one of her 13 kills and then Berger added a solo block to put Midland up by two. That proved to be the cushion they needed as they won the race to the finish, 25-23, to take a two-set lead in the match.
The Bulldogs weren’t about to roll over in the third and showed a bit of their bite with a 3-0 run to start the set. Midland responded with three of their own to force the first of what would be 11 different ties in the set.
Neither side held a larger lead than two until a 3-0 run by the Warriors put them up 20-17. Kills by Ringler, Flores, and Berger put Concordia on the edge. Trailing 20-17, they used their final timeout, looking to regroup for a final push.
While they did manage a tie at 22-22, the Warriors closed out the match with a kill by Mosier, a block by Mosier and Ringler, and a kill by Ringler.
For the match, Flores and Ringler led the way on the attack behind the setting of Leimbach. Flores finished with 13 kills on 37 swings, while Ringler had 12 on 22 attempts. Berger and Mosier were close behind with nine and eight kills, respectively.
Leimbach guided the Warriors to a .132 hitting percentage. She had 42 assists while also adding 9 digs, 1 kill, and 1 block to her stat line.
Defensively, Delanie Vallinch led the way with 15 digs. Flores was three behind with 12, which gave her a double-double for the 14th time this season. At the net, Midland had seven blocks. Berger had a hand in on three, with two being solo stops. Getting in on a pair of blocks each were Lauren Williams, Leimbach, and Ringler.
“I am really proud of the girls tonight,” said head coach Paul Giesselmann. “This is a huge road win for us playing at the No. 5 team in the nation. To be able to come on the road, into a tough environment, and come away with a sweep is tough. I felt that the difference in the match was the composure of our team at the end of each game. With things tight and up for grabs, our players found a way to get the tough points when we needed them.”
With the several other matches within the GPAC on Wednesday night, seeding was up for grabs at every level. After the dust was settled across the conference, the Warriors find themselves as the second-seed, one game behind regular-season champion Jamestown.
Midland (24-3, 14-2 GPAC) will host the seventh-seeded (RV) Hastings (19-12, 8-8 GPAC) in the first round of the tournament on Saturday. First serve is set for 7:00 p.m. inside the Wikert Event Center on November 5. Midland and Hastings split their earlier meetings with each team winning on their home court.
