AURORA, Ill. - Sophomore Danielle McQuade averaged four kills and 3.57 digs per set and freshman Tiffany Buchinger had 11.14 assists per set as the Tiffin University volleyball team (5-14) lost twice Saturday on the final day of the GLIAC/GLVC Crossover at the Great Lakes Center.
Tiffin lost 3-1 (25-22, 25-17, 24-26, 25-19) to William Jewell (11-7) and 3-0 (25-27, 16-25, 23-25) to Rockhurst (10-11)
Against William Jewell, in the first set, the teams went back and forth. Tiffin opened up a 3-0 early lead only to see the Cardinals tie it up with a 4-1 run.
WJC pulled out a 6-3 spurt to lead 10-7. The Dragons forced a service error and got a kill from junior Maureen Kurtz. That made it 10-9.
William Jewell responded with three straight points to lead 13-9. The Cardinals and TU matched points at 11, making it 24-20.
Tiffin stayed alive with kills from Buchinger and sophomore McKenzie Wright. WJC forced the Dragons into a ball handling error to take the set.
In the second set, William Jewell sprinted to an early 11-8 lead. Freshman Erin Turner came flying in from the outside and hammered the ball home, cutting the gap to 11-9. The Cardinals went on a 6-2 run to effectively end the set.
In the third set, Tiffin was outclassed early, falling behind 12-5. The Dragons settled down and reeled off four straight points to make it 12-9.
WJC pushed out to a 14-11 lead. Sophomore Jordan Jenkins served up three straight points to knot the set at 14-14. From that point forward, it was a back and forth affair.
TU got a spike from Kurtz to give itself set point at 24-23. William Jewell got a cross court kill from Jordan Jackson to make it 24-24. Following a Cardinal service error, Turner found the back corner to end the set.
In the fourth set, neither squad could pull away until the end. It was a back and forth affair with an ace from Jenkins tying the set at 12-12. WJC scored five straight points and appeared to have the set in hand.
Tiffin fought back with a 5-2 run. McQuade crushed the ball down the right sideline to pull to two, 19-17. The Dragons fell behind and then closed to 22-19 off a spike from Turner. William Jewell scored the next three points to take the match.
For Tiffin, McQuade had 14 kills and 12 digs, Wright had 13 kills and hit .385% while Turner had 10 kills. Buchinger had 47 assists, Jenkins had 16 digs and three aces and senior Lindsay Heller had 18 digs. Heller now has 1461 in her career.
For William Jewell, Jackson had 13 kills, Christina Pratt had 11 kills and Katie Dagmar had 16 digs.
Against Rockhurst, in the first set, it was a battle early. A kill from Emily Ready closed the Tiffin lead to one, 11-10. The Dragons came back with a 10-3 run. McQuade stuffed Leah Burbach to make it 21-13.
The Hawks then launched a full out assault on TU. RU went on an 11-3 run, with a spike from Maggie Hummel making it 24-24. Kurtz then smashed the ball off the block to make it 25-24. Rockhurst scored the next three points to take the set.
In the second set, Tiffin could never get on track. The Hawks scored the first six points of the set and went up 15-7 to end it.
In the third set, only once was the lead more than two points. Kurtz and Wright recorded kills to put the Dragons up 19-16, the biggest lead of the set.
RU went on an 8-3 run to lead 24-22. TU got a block to close to one, 24-23. Kareen Schwartze put the ball away to end the match.
For Tiffin, McQuade had 14 kills and 13 digs with Kurtz adding 10 kills. Defensively, Jenkins had 13 digs and Heller had 10 digs. Heller now has 1471 in her career, ninth all-time in TU history.
Tiffin begins a seven-game home stand, Friday, Oct. 21, taking on Findlay. The match is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. Live stats will be available at http://livestats.prestosports.com/tiffin/.
-TIFFIN UNIVERSITY-
