OWENSBORO, KY - Despite a career night from
Hallie McGuire, the Panthers fell to the Tiffin Dragons in five sets on Friday (25-22, 30-28, 19-25, 22-25, 13-15). McGuire tallied a career high 23 kills, the most for a Wesleyan player since Nikki Jenkins in 2015, and the third most in Kentucky Wesleyan recorded history.
With the win Tiffin moves to 11-14 (5-7 G-MAC), while Wesleyan drops to 6-17 (2-6 G-MAC).
The Panthers came out strong, marching out to a 16-10 lead in the opening set. Tiffin quickly made a run to tie things up at 19 before Hallie Mcguire stopped the Dragon momentum with two quick kills. With Wesleyan up 23-22, Tiffin struggled, losing the set thanks to a service and hitting error.
Both sides went back-and-forth in set two, with Tiffin eventually taking a 16-11 lead. Kills from
Olivia Patton and
Diana Wesolosky quieted the Tiffin faithful down, and Wesleyan was down just 16-15 just a few points later. After Wesleyan took a 24-22 lead, TU grabbed three straight points, pushing the Panthers to the edge. Wesolosky responded with two monster kills over the next five points to keep the Panthers alive. Down 28-27, Wesleyan used kills from
Mariah Jones and McGuire to fuel a late run and take the set 30-28.
The third set looked to be going the Panthers way, as they took an 18-16 lead midway through. Tiffin had other ideas, however, as they won nine of the final 10 points to take the set 25-19. Both the fourth and fifth sets went down to the wire, but Tiffin used a .429 hitting percentage in the final set to secure the win.
Hallie McGuire led the way with 23 kills, followed closely behind by
Diana Wesolosky, who also set a new career high with 18 kills.
Ava Rebarchik was yet again a force at the net, tallying six blocks.
Karrah Cron notched 31 assists and 15 digs, while
Danielle Nelson also had 15 digs.
Wesleyan will look to pull an upset tomorrow as they host G-MAC leaders Ashland. Game time is set for 1 p.m. in Jones Gym.
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