Cedarville Comeback Falls Short in Sweep By Findlay

by Abigail Hintz

The Cedarville Lady Jackets (2-2) dropped their fourth game of the season 3-0 (25-23, 25-17, 25-18) to the University of Findlay Oilers. The Jackets could not overcome a scrappy yet dominate Oiler offense and were therefore unable to run their own front row consistently.

The Jackets were led by senior Lauren Willow with 11 kills and senior Liene Miller with 10. Hayley Goff contributed 27 assists and Mallory Delamarter led with 11 digs.

Cedarville as a whole made 22 attacking errors. The two teams were tied in number of kills but the Jackets simply made more errors than the Oilers with 22.

Cedarville gained a 3-point lead early after back to back kills from freshman Abby Kuyper. The Oilers tried to rally but Kuyper but yet another one away and the Jackets were rolling. The Oilers got their points from their scrappy offense that often caught the Cedarville block off guard. Cedarville was more well rounded on offense but was unable to pick up the out of system plays Findlay threw their way.

Miller was dominate in the front row as always, – she led with five kills in the first set – but struggled on defense, causing some trouble for the Jackets. The teams were neck and neck until Cedarville fell in a hold they couldn’t get out of despite a push for a comeback. The first set went to Findlay 25-23. Cedarville had 9 attacking errors in the first set, and Findlay only had 11 kills meaning the Jackets gave up several unforced errors.

The Jackets were disjointed to start the second set and the Oilers went up 6-2 early. Miller made several errors in the back row and the team as a whole was unable to compensate. Smith made the call to “hide” her by pulling back a front row player to cover for her and this helped Cedarville get out of their funk.

Cedarville only made two attacking errors in the second set and were playing much scrappier, but Findlay’s offense was not letting up. The Jackets were within one at 12-11 when Smith put in some fresh legs. It wasn’t what Cedarville needed as the Oilers soon went on a five point run forcing Smith to call a timeout.

Miller was kept to just two kills in the second set. Her production is essential to the Cedarville offense and it showed in the scoreline. Findlay took the second set 25-17.

Cedarville fell into a deep 8-4 hole early in the third set and weren’t able to get within five after that. It seemed hopeless as they went down 21-9, though they were able to pull back late. Once again, however, it was not enough and they dropped the last set 25-18.

Cedarville gets a week off before traveling to Trevecca next Friday for a 7:00 p.m. match as they hope to get back their winning record.

Abigail Hintz is a junior Journalism major and the Sports and Digital Editor for Cedars. She loves reading, playing Spikeball with her friends and watching soccer 24/7.