No. 10 Warriors Fall in Straight Sets at Morningside

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – It was a night to forget for No. 10 Midland University up in Sioux City as they fell to unranked Morningside University in three sets (24-26, 23-25, 22-25). The Warriors fall to 8-6 overall and to 4-2 within the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) while the Mustangs improve to 9-11 and 2-4 in the conference.

The opening set started out well for Midland as it took the first five points of the match behind kills from Lauren Williams, Abbey Ringler, and Cortlyn Schaefer (2) along with an ace serve from Brena Mackling. Morningside battled back, using a 4-0 run to pull within a point at 10-9, and then a five-point swing to go in front 15-13.

The teams traded points after that with seven ties on the way to a deadlock at 24-24. A service error by the Warriors put the home team on set point and they clinched the opener with a kill to make it 26-24.

Morningside was able to ride the wave of momentum in the second as they pulled in front with a three-point run to go up 9-6. They kept the lead up until a 6-1 run that saw Midland tie it up at 16-16 and then take the edge at 19-17. The Mustangs utilized both of their allotted timeouts during the run and after working back even at 21-21, and then 23-23, they were to put themselves in the driver's seat for the match as they induced back-to-back attack errors to win 25-23.

Midland looked good through the early parts of the third as they used a 5-0 run to go up 15-10 through the midway point of the set. Things looked promising as the lead held up to a 21-17 advantage but that all changed as Morningside went on a 7-0 run to flip the set in its favor. Sitting on match point, 24-21, a point by the Warriors delayed the sweep for just a moment as a service error, the seventh of the night, ended the match 25-22.

The Warriors, who came into the match limiting their opponents to a .140 hitting percentage, allowed the Mustangs to strike at a .238 percentage on the attack. Midland's attack was right around its season average as they hit .187 as a team.

Leading the way with 11 kills on the night was Cortlyn Schaefer. Abbey Ringler had seven successful attacks while Lauren Williams finished with six.

Brena Mackling and Brielle Power handled the setting from the 6-2 offense. Mackling had 16 set assists while Power finished with 15.

Defensively, Delanie Vallinch had 13 digs to lead the team. Kailyn Scott and Saige Craver were the next in line with seven and six digs, respectively. At the net, the Warriors had seven blocks as a team. Ringler had a hand in on five while Jacki Apel had a solo stop to go along with three block assists.

Midland (8-6, 4-2 GPAC) will look to rebound from the setback in quick fashion. They'll be back on the road in Sioux City on Saturday with a match at Briar Cliff (6-15, 1-6 GPAC). The Chargers will host the Warriors inside the Newman Flanigan Center at 3:00 p.m. on September 30.