The Tiffin University volleyball team (10-13, 5-9 G-MAC) tallied 105 digs and rallied down two sets to one to win a five-set thriller against Hillsdale on Friday night 3-2 (20-25, 25-18, 14-25, 25-21, 15-13.  

That marks the second year in a row that the Dragons have defeated Hillsdale in five sets at home. The Dragons' defense kept them in the match Friday night and the 105 digs are tied for the fifth most in program history, nine short of the program record of 114 set in 2013. The 105 are the most since recording 107 on October 20, 2017.  

Friday night's win also kept the Dragons' G-MAC Tournament hopes alive. Tiffin will take on Northwood tomorrow for senior day and the regular season finale. Northwood can clinch the final tournament spot with a win, while a Tiffin win would give the two teams the same conference record and tiebreakers would decide who gets the final spot.  

The first set saw the two teams trade big runs and a solo block by Olivia Karhoff made it 12-12. Hillsdale took control after that, winning six in a row and nine of 12 to take a 21-15 lead. The Dragons cut the deficit to three but Hillsdale closed it out winning the final two points. 

The Dragons jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the second set after a kill by Maddie Daniel and two kills by Karhoff. Tiffin never trailed. The Chargers attempted a comeback but got only as close as three. Katelyn Owens served an ace to end it. 

Set three was all Hillsdale, and it was the Chargers who never trailed. Hillsdale won seven of the first nine points to gain early momentum. A kill from Kaylee Freund cut the deficit to 18-14 and Hillsdale went off after that ending the set with seven straight points.  

The Dragons shook off a bit of a slow start in the fourth set. After falling behind 3-0, back-to-back kills by Parker Vackert and Lexi Barber gave TU a 9-5 lead. Hillsdale responded and retook the lead 17-14. Four kills fueled a six-point run as the Dragons took the lead back 20-17. After Hillsdale got back within one, Tiffin forced a fifth set with two kills by Karhoff and an attack error by the Chargers.  

Tiffin kept the momentum going into the fifth set and never trailed as the set started with a service ace by Maggie Pavlansky. After Tiffin built a four-point lead, Hillsdale cut it to one. Leading 8-7, three kills and an attack error gave TU a 12-7 lead. Tiffin had to withstand another Hillsdale rally but had a response. Leading 13-10, Hillsdale cut the deficit to one but the Dragons were able to close it out with a kill by Owens.  

Offensively, Vackert led the way with a career-high 16 kills. Karhoff added 15 and Daniel had 10. Meanwhile, Barber tallied a career-high 23 digs.  

Karhoff, Pavlansky, and Morgan Morley each had 20 digs. Owens had 5 solo blocks and Pavlansky dished out 44 assists.