Seward, Nebraska — The Dordt Defender volleyball team rallied from a 2-1 deficit to drop the Concordia Bulldogs in GPAC play on Saturday afternoon in Seward, Nebraska to pull to 4-4 in the conference at the midpoint of the schedule.
Dordt lost set one 25-16 in a contest that started with a Concordia 10-8 lead. Back to back points by the hosts pushed the lead to 12-8 and it was eventually a 16-11 contest before Concordia finished on a 9-5 run.
Dordt took an 18-14 lead after a Danielle Vande Voort kill and Dordt eventually strung together five more points for a commanding 22-14 lead and Jessi Franken finished off the set with a kill for the 25-17 win to event the match.
Set three saw Dordt battling from behind and the Defenders were able to narrow the lead to 17-14 before back to back points stretched the difference to 19-14 in Concordia’s favor and Dordt was unable to string points together in falling 25-18.
As they did in set two, the Defenders seized an early lead and went up 13-5 before the Bulldogs rallied with eight out of nine points. Leading 14-12, Dordt got kills from Corrina Timmermans and Alli Timmermans and eventually went up 23-17. What seemed like a comfortable lead shrunk to 23-22 on five points in a row for the Bulldogs and the hosts eventually tied the score at 24-24. Back to back kills by Corrina Timmermans made the final 26-24.
The Defenders went up 9-3 in set four only to have the Bulldogs rally to within 10-9. A Grace Langemeier kill fought off the rally and after a Concordia kill Corrina Timmermans followed with a kill. An attack error by the hosts put Dordt up 13-10 but Concordia didn’t wilt, getting back to back points to trim the difference to 13-12. Danielle Vande Voort scored a kill and Concordia responded with a kill to fight off one set point but Dordt’s Alli Timmermans ended it with a kill for the 15-13 final.
Dordt had a 60-55 kill edge and recorded a .163 kill efficiency while Concordia was at .166.
Dordt had an extremely high .455 kill efficiency in set five.
Dordt had nine points from blocks while Concordia had 12.
Both teams had six service errors.
Alli Timmermans led all players with 22 kills and she had three block assists.
Corrina Timmermans had 14 kills and 19 digs.
Danielle Vande Voort recorded ten kills and Jessi Franken nine with five block assists and two solo blocks.
Erica Bousema recorded 37 digs and Megan Raszler had 50 assists.
A short turnaround for the Defenders as they head to Mitchell, S.D. for a conference match against No.13 Dakota Wesleyan on Tuesday, Oct. 12.
