Defiance vs Anderson Box

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Danyel Lipps led Defiance with 18 kills in 54 swings, but the Yellow Jackets could not slow a hot swinging Anderson attack, as the Ravens handed DC its first conference loss of the year. The Jackets won the first game, before AU rallied to score the 30-32, 30-20, 30-17, 30-26 victory.

Defiance played well early, posting a .302 hitting percentage in the opening set and jumping out to a fast 5-0 advantage. The Jackets used the hot hand to lead all but two points en route to a 28-24 lead, but Anderson got kills from Whitney Osborn and Carol Weatherford to cap a 4-0 spurt and draw even at 28-28.

Lauren Aldridge stopped the slide with a kill and answered two-straight AU tallies with another slam to knot the score once again at 30-30. Defiance reclaimed the lead at 31-30 on a kill from Sara Porter and finished off the opening-set win on a service ace from Ashton Judis.

Despite falling in the first set, the Ravens used their late rally in the opening set to get on track. Anderson took the second and third sets in convincing fashion after posting hitting percentages of .250 and .412 respectively.

Anderson continued its push into the fourth game, steadily building a 21-13 lead before Defiance began to force its way back into the match. DC pulled within six at 21-15 on a Julie Brunsman kill and clipped the Ravens’ lead to four at 22-18, 23-19 and 24-20 on a trio of kills from Lipps. The deficit would slip to three at 28-25 and 29-26 after a pair of Porter slams, but Osborn finished off the match for Anderson with her 21st kill of the evening.

Lipps went for 18 kills, 15 digs and two aces to lead the way for Defiance and was backed by 15-kill efforts from Aldridge and Porter. Kelsey Ferguson continued her solid play with 48 assists and 17 digs and Judis provided a spark on defense with 21 digs.

The Ravens (10-7, 2-1 HCAC) were led by Osborne and Weatherford, as the duo combined for 36 kills in 64 swings for a sizzling hitting percentage of .438. Kasey Bollier fueled the offense with 58 assists and Jessica Berlin provided 11 kills and 25 digs.

Defiance (5-12, 3-1 HCAC) will look to get back in the win column on Saturday when it hosts Hanover at 10:00 am.