Sioux City, Iowa - The Marian women's volleyball team opened up day two of NAIA Pool Play this morning at the Tyson Events Center upsetting No. 12 Providence 3-1. The Knights are now 25-9 overall on the season.
The beginning part of the first set drew four ties with the Knights benefiting off of an attacking error and kills by Nicole Wilkinson, Madison Brooks, and Sarah Bennett. Providence then broke up the bottleneck with a 4-0 run to bring the set 4-9. The Knights began to chip away at the lead with Gabby Fish claiming two kills and Mikayla Christiansen with one but were not able to claim a deep run against the Argos defense. The Knights got their footing to gain a 4-0 run with Wilkinson, Khori Dryden, Bennett all claiming kills as well as an attacking error by Providence to draw a timeout by the Argos with a set score of 11-13. Both sides were unable to draw any runs longer than two with Dryden, Christiansen, Smith, Wilkinson, and Brooks each claiming a kill while Bennett was able to claim two. The Argos capitalized on two kills and an attacking error to claim their last three points out of a Marian timeout and secure the set victory of 25-22.
Marian kicked it into gear in the second set with Christiansen and Brooks opening up with back to back kills to claim the first two points of the set. Brooks and Dryden both claimed a kill followed up by an attacking error from Taylor of the Argos to take the early 5-1 lead. The Knights continued to dominate and break up Providence's potential runs with Bennett and Dryden both claiming a kill each as well as Gabby Fish and Wilkinson claiming a block to bring the score 10-5. The Knights then went on their longest run of the day so far with a 10-0 run to only be broken up by a timeout by the Argos between the seventh and eighth point of the run. Christiansen, Brooks, and Wilkinson each claimed a kill as well as multiple blocks in the run as well as Smith's second ace of the day. Brooks, Smith, and Dryden's kills were all on fire as well as Bennett and Brooks' block to secure the 25-14 set win and tie the game up 1-1.
The Knights continued to bring the heat into the third set with Brooks and Wilkinson putting a stop to the Argos' efforts of scoring the first point with a block. Marian continued to maintain their lead with a 2-0 run followed up by a 5-0 run with Christiansen claiming one kill, Dryden claiming two, and Brooks claiming three with Logan Smith claiming the assist on each play and claiming the 8-2 lead. Each side continued to trade points back and forth with the Knights continuing to maintain the lead with Brooks, Christiansen, and Dryden claiming kills as well as Wilkinson and Brooks claiming blocks to stop the Argos' efforts. Marian drew their first timeout of the set with the score at 16-14. Coming out of the timeout Dryden, Fish, and Christiansen each claimed crucial kills to draw Providence's first timeout of the set. Wilknson came out of the timeout with a kill with the assist from Emerson Evans bringing the score 20-16. Fish and Brooks each claimed a kill in the final points of the set as well as Chrsitiansen claiming an ace. Brooks ended the set with a kill from a pass off of Smith to secure the 25-20 win in set three.
Marian opened the final set with a 4-0 run followed by a 5-0 run with Christiansen, Brooks, and Dryden each claiming multiple kills to secure the 9-3 lead over Providence. The Knights continued to push 3-0 runs with Christiansen claiming five kills and Fish and Dryden claiming one each before Providence drew their first timeout with the score 18-13. Coming out of the timeout Brooks claimed two kills as well as an assisted block with Bennett to claim Marian's third 3-0 run and bring the Knights four points away from an upset over Providence. Dryden, Brooks, and Christiansen each claimed a kill bringing the game to a match point with Sydney Schaffer back to serve. Schaffer drills the serve to the ride side of the court and the Argos were unable to claim a dig ending the set off of an ace from Schaffer to claim the 25-21 set win as well as the 3-1 upset over No. 12.
Madison Brooks led the team in kills with 20 claiming not only her career-high in kills but in points as well with 24. Mikayla Christiansen also claimed her career-high in kills with 17 in the match. Khori Dryden claimed 13 kills as well on the day. Logan Smith led the team in assists with 36 claiming a new career high as well as a new career high in digs with 22. Emerson Evans also claimed 17 assists in the matchup. Emma Lyons led the team in digs with 35 while Christiansen had 12 and Lexa Zimmerman claimed 10. Nicole Wilkinson led the team in blocks with eight while Brooks was close behind with seven. Smith led the team in serving aces with two while Christiansen and Sydney Schaffer each had one.
Marian's season would come to an end on December 6th, as the Knights reached a tiebreaker round following Providence's win over Bellevue in the final pool play game on December 6. The Knights would return to the court for a one-set tiebreaker against Bellevue at 9:36 p.m. on December 6, needing a win to rematch with Providence for the right to go to the bracket and NAIA Quarterfinals. Marian fought hard in the matchup, but came up short, losing the set 25-22 to see their season come to an end.
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