Volleyball Drops Tough 3-2 Match At Tiffin

OVERVIEW – TIFFIN

SCORE: Tiffin Dragons 3, Northwood Timberwolves 2 (34-36, 25-18, 15-25, 25-23, 16-14)

RECORDS: Northwood (12-9, 4-6 GLIAC), Tiffin (12-10, 6-4 GLIAC)

LOCATION: Tiffin, Ohio – Gilmour Center

RECAP:  Northwood dropped a hard-fought 3-1 match at Tiffin Friday night (October 20).

INSIDE THE MATCH

• In one of the wildest sets in recent memory, Northwood earned a 1-0 lead. Tiffin got off to a fast start, scoring five of the first six points of the match. The Timberwolves fought back, eventually tying the score at 15-15. It appeared the Dragons were on their way to the set victory after going up 23-19, but Northwood rattled off five straight points to earn a set point at 24-23. That, however, would prove to be the first of many set points for both teams. Northwood eventually had seven set points, while Tiffin registered a total of three. On their seventh set point, the Timberwolves took the set 36-34 to take the early advantage. Northwood had 28 kills in the set (28-8-77 - .260) while Tiffin had 22 (22-7-79 - .190).
• Tiffin responded to the tough opening set loss by taking their game up a level in the second. With the score tied 10-10, the Dragons posted a 7-3 run to go up 17-13. Northwood got within three at 20-17 before Tiffin scored five of the final set points to win 25-18. The Dragons offense was impressive in the set, hitting .341 while making just one error (15-1-41). Northwood ended up at .170 (15-7-47).
• A strong start for Northwood in the third set proved to be vital as the Timberwolves took the overall lead. NU scored five of the first six points and maintained control from there. Tiffin got within two points on two occasions, but Northwood used a late 6-1 run to get the lead back up to eight at 21-13. The Timberwolves eventually won the set 25-15, thanks to a dominant performance on the offensive end. Northwood hit .500 in the frame, finishing with 18 kills and one error on 34 attempts. Tiffin finished at .237 (14-5-38).
• Northwood held the lead for the majority of the fourth, but a late push by Dragons forced a fifth set. The Timberwolves held leads of 11-5, 18-13 and 20-16 when Tiffin made a run. TU scored nine of the final 12 points to win 25-23.  Neither team hit well in the fourth – Tiffin finished at .098 while Northwood hit .167 (17-9-48).
• The fifth set was tight throughout – neither team led by more than three points. The Timberwolves were up 13-11 late and had a match point at 14-13. But that proved to be the last point for the Timberwolves in the match, as the Dragons scored the final three points to win 16-14. Tiffin finished the final set at .219 (8-1-32) compared to Northwood at .114 (11-7-35).

MATCH STATS

• HITTING: Tiffin .212 (69-20-231), Northwood .237 (89-32-241)
• DIGS: Tiffin 107, Northwood 130 (Allison Getty/Brenna Murphy – 35)
• BLOCKS: Tiffin 12, Northwood 2 (Sydney Greulich/Mackenzie Kepler – 1)
• ACES: Tiffin 9, Northwood 1 (Nadia Atton – 1)

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Getty: 27 kills, 35 digs, .296 attack percentage (27-6-71)
• Kepler: 21 kills
• Carson Rutherford: 16 kills
• Greulich: 12 digs
• Hailey Jones:  83 assists, 19 digs

NORTHWOOD NOTES

• Despite the loss, Northwood had some remarkable stats in the match. Their 89 kills are the second most for any match in Division II this season, trailing only Newman's 90. Their 130 digs in the match are the ninth most in any D-II match this season.

UP NEXT

• Northwood will return to GLIAC play with a match at Ashland Saturday (October 21). Match time is set for 2 p.m.