DETROIT, Mich. - The Tiffin University women's volleyball team bounced back from a 3-0 sweep at the hands of Illinois-Springfield in their first match Friday morning to earn a 3-0 sweep of their own in the nightcap over Kentucky State. With the split on the day, the Dragons move to 3-3 on the young season with day two of the 2018 Warrior Invitational coming up on Saturday.

Tiffin and UIS traded points at the start, with Tiffin taking an early 5-4 lead. However, the Prairie Stars followed with a 9-2 run to pull away and grab a 13-7 advantage. TIffin managed to rally late in the game and cut the deficit back down to four, 22-18, but UIS responded with the final three points of the frame to take the first game.

Looking to even the match, the Dragons came out strong in game two and utilized a 9-1 run to take a 13-8 lead. Tiffin was not able to keep the momentum going, however, as the Prairie Stars knotted the score at 17. After UIS took a 21-19 lead, Tiffin's Jenna Huffman rattled off three of the Dragons' next four points with kills, with the final hit tying things up at 23. UIS finished strong once again though, putting together a kill and a block to finish game two and take a 2-0 lead.

Illinois-Springfield rode the momentum of the close win in game two to an easy game three victory, as they took leads of 13-4 and 20-10 before winning by a final score of 25-14 to complete the sweep. Jenna Huffman and Amanda Curry each tallied nine kills in the opening match, while Emily Weithman recorded 13 assists and three Dragons registered double-figure digs. 

The Dragons fared much better in the match with Kentucky State later in the afternoon, having no trouble with the Thorobreds in a 3-0 sweep. The first game of the match was Tiffin's best of the day, as the Dragons hit .448 as a team with 16 kills and just three errors. KSU made things interesting in the first couple of points, taking a 4-1 lead in the early going, but the Dragons rattled off seven unanswered as part of a 9-2 run that pushed the score to 10-7 in Tiffin's favor. Holding a 14-11 lead a few minutes later, Tiffin went on another big run, outscoring the Thorobreds 11-2 to close out the game. Curry had eight kills in the game, including seven of the Dragons' last 10 points.

Kentucky State put up a bit of a fight to begin game two, as the score was even at 14 midway through the game. Tiffin managed to notch four-straight points, however, and hold on to win game two by five, 25-20. The Dragons ran all over the Thorobreds in game three to complete the sweep, including an 8-0 run, as they won by a score of 25-13 for the second time in the match. Jenna Huffman (13) and Curry (11) both finished with double-digit kills while Weithman provided 22 assists. Sydney Gilland also added seven kills and Loryn Huffman notched 12 assists.

The Dragons will wrap up their trip to Detroit for the Warrior Invitational with a pair of games tomorrow, Sept. 1, as they face Kentucky State again at 10:00 a.m. followed by battling host Wayne State at 5:30 p.m.