The Tiffin University volleyball team (8-13, 3-9 G-MAC) began a critical four-game home stretch to conclude the regular season Friday night and fell short in a tough five-set battle with Thomas More 3-2 (22-25, 23-25, 25-22, 27-25, 10-15).
The Dragons had 52 errors in the match, which proved costly. Tiffin had 34 attack errors and 18 service errors.
The Dragons got off to a fast start in the opening set and jumped out to a 6-1 lead, and the match started with a service ace by Maggie Pavlansky. The Dragons maintained their lead and led 10-7 following a kill by Maddie Daniel. Thomas More tied it at 10 and then with the set tied at 16, the Saints took control winning five straight points. An ace by Morgan Morley cut the deficit to 22-21, but the Saints closed it out winning three of the final four points.
Thomas More jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the second set. With it tied at 11, the Dragons won four straight to make it 15-11 following kills by Parker Vackert and Daniel along with an ace by Katelyn Owens. The Saints turned the tide late again in the second set much like they did in the first set. Thomas More turned a 20-19 deficit into a 24-20 lead and the Dragons attempted a comeback but fell short.
Tiffin jumped out to a 7-4 lead in the third set following an ace by Lexi Barber. Four straight kills (two by Vackert, and one each by Olivia Karhoff and Kaylee Freund) gave the Dragons an 18-12 advantage. The Saints didn't go away quietly and won eight of nine to make it 20-20. Tied at 22, TU was able to close it out winning the final three points in a row and Pavlansky extended the match with an ace.
Set four featured an early Tiffin lead and another TMU late rally. Tiffin led 10-6 after two straight attack errors by the Saints and maintained a lead throughout. The Saints won four in a row to turn a 20-16 deficit into a 20-20 tie and then took the lead 23-22. The Dragons fought off two match points to extend the set and trailing 25-24, TU took the final three points thanks to two TMU errors.
Errors were costly for the Dragons in the fifth set as it started with a service error by Pavlansky that saw the Saints take a 3-0 lead. Thomas More led from start to finish and extended the lead to 12-6 following three straight kills. Trailing 14-7, the Dragons made it 14-10 which forced a Thomas More timeout. Out of the timeout, a service error by Karhoff ended the match.
Vackert led the way with 14 kills and Freund and Daniel finished with 12 and 11, respectively. Owens had 10 kills and 5.5 total blocks with four solo.
Defensively, Karhoff led the way with 16 digs and Morgan Morley had 14. Pavlansky had 42 assists and 11 digs.
The team's hitting percentages were nearly identical with the Dragons at .166 and the Saints at .171.
