TAMPA, FLA. - Senior Lindsay Heller had 22 digs and sophomore Danielle McQuade had 24 kills and hit .404 as the Tiffin University volleyball team (0-4) fell twice at the Tampa Classic Saturday. The Dragons lost 3-0 (25-23, 25-11, 25-18) to Clarion (1-2) and 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 28-26) to #15 Lewis (3-1).
Against Clarion, the first set was a nail bitter. The Golden Eagles went up 11-7 and looked to have things in control. Tiffin forced two errors, got an ace from Heller and a kill from sophomore McKenzie Wright. All of a sudden it was tied at 11-11.
At 13-13, Clarion went on a 10-8 run to take the lead at 23-21. The Dragons would not quit forcing a serve error and then Heller delivered another ace to tie it at 23-23. CU would score the next two points to take the set.
The Golden Eagles opened each of the next two sets at 10-4 to effectively end the match.
For Tiffin, McQuade had 13 kills with just two errors to hit .440 for the match. Sophomore Jordan Jenkins had 10 digs and two service aces while Heller had 11 digs and three aces.
For Clarion, Kellie Bartman had 12 kills, Rhianon Brady had 11 digs and Rebecca Beightol had three service aces.
Against Lewis, the Flyers raced out to a 13-6 lead in the opening set. TU came storming back with a kill from Wright, two blocks and a ball handling error to close the gap to three, 13-10. LU then scored eight straight points to end the set.
In the second set, the lead was never more than two for most of the set. Freshman Keyonna Gregory smashed the ball off the block to put Tiffin up 19-18. Lewis would score five straight points to go up 23-19. The teams traded points with LU finishing on top.
In the third set, the Flyers looked to be in control with a 20-14 lead. The Dragons would come storming back with seven straight points to lead 21-20. McQuade had four kills during the rally.
LU was on the verge on winning the match, up 24-22. TU got kills from sophomore Jordan Jenkins and Wright to tie the match at 24-24. At 26-26, the Flyers forced Tiffin into two errors to take the match.
For Tiffin, McQuade had 11 kills and hit .364. Heller had 11 digs, her third straight double-digit performance. Gregory led the defense with three total blocks.
Tiffin opens up the home season Tuesday, Sept. 6 taking on Malone. The match is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. Live stats will be available at http://livestats.prestosports.com/tiffin/.
-TIFFIN UNIVERSITY-
