PEPPER PIKE, Ohio - Junior Danielle McQuade had a number 14 double-double as the Tiffin University volleyball team (7-12) slugged out a 3-0 (29-27, 25-15, 25-20) win over Ursuline (4-25), Tuesday night at the O'Brien Athletic Center.
The first set was complete and all-out trench warfare. Ursuline jumped to an early 11-8 lead. Senior Maureen Kurtz got the comeback express rolling with a spike off the blocker's head. Freshman Sabine Stadler stuffed an Arrow hitter. That made it six points in a row and gave the Dragons a 14-11 lead.
TU pushed the lead to 20-14 before UC mounted a comeback. Down 22-19, Ursuline rolled out five straight points. A Tiffin error put the Arrows one point away from victory, 24-22. Freshman Alex Miglin and a TU block tied it up at 24-24.
Alex Leister put one away to make it 25-24, UC. McQuade kept the Dragons alive, finding the back corner. TU faced a moment of truth once again, down 27-26. Stadler crushed the ball down the pipe. Junior Jordan Jenkins came in and served two points to close the set.
In the second set, the squads went at it full force once again. There were six lead changes in the early going. Alex Leister put one away to close the gap to 12-11. Tiffin decided to just end it with a 9-1 burst. That made it 21-12 and the set was over.
In the third set, the Dragons just couldn't put the pesky Arrows away. TU went up 9-5 before UC closed the gap to two. Leads of six, four and five, twice, were each whittled down to three points. Another Leister kill made it 22-19, Tiffin. The Dragons closed on a 3-1 run to end the match.
For Tiffin, McQuade had 14 kills and 14 digs while Kurtz had 10 kills. Stadler had her best performance of the season with nine kills, four solo blocks and five total blocks. Sophomore Tiffany Buchinger led the offense with 43 assists and added 11 digs. Jenkins had 24 digs, her 12th double-digit performance of the season.
For Ursuline, Leister finished with 12 kills and 13 digs. Kelly Stenger had 20 digs.
Tiffin remains on the road, Friday, Oct. 19 taking on Michigan Tech. The game is scheduled to start at 5:00 p.m.
-TIFFIN UNIVERSITY-
