WILMINGTON, Ohio - At Wilmington College, the Adrian women's volleyball team bounced back from sluggish first match to claim its first sweep of the season and a day split.
 
GAME 1 | Adrian 1, Heidelberg 3 (19-25, 16-25, 25-22, 14-25)

It had been just over a week since Heidelberg came into Adrian on a Friday night and shocked the homestanding Bulldogs with a five-set, come-from-behind victory. This time around, the Student Princes had no intentions of falling behind like that again. In fact, the Berg only fell behind Adrian once over the first two sets.

Despite a back-and-forth start to the match's first set, Heidelberg would begin to piece together run after run to ultimately pull away. In the following frame, the Student Princes trailed by as many as one point before opening up a 20-12 cushion and cruising to a two-set lead.

The third set saw Heidelberg jump ahead 6-2 early, but a 4-0 run by the Bulldogs knotted things up at 6-6. After Adrian's response, the Berg hit back with something of their own, building an advantage of any many as three points.

Nevertheless, a service error by the opposition allowed the 'Dogs to orchestrate their most effective run of the match, 7-2 in all to work ahead 19-15 late in the set. The Student Princes, however, got back up to speed, charging back to tie the frame at 20-20.

In the subsequent race to five, the black and gold took advantage of a series of Heidelberg errors to claim the set 25-22.

The Berg managed the deciding set to a tee, clinched the match in four sets.

Mallory Dorow paced Adrian with 10 kills, while Blaire Weiman and Maddy Ritchie added 8 and 7 kills, respectively.

Hailey Farrell chipped in 30 assists, and Mya Minjares worked out 21 digs to lead the Bulldogs defensively.
 
GAME 2 | Adrian 3, Wilmington 0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-22)

The Bulldogs turned things around quickly for their second match of the day, garnering their first straight-set sweep since October 23, 2020.
The black and gold were untouchable with their service game, turning in 13 service aces to the Quakers one.

It did take some time, however, for Adrian to pulls thing in their favor, as Wilmington began the first set on a 4-1 run. A quick recovering was in order for the Bulldogs, eventually leading to 7-7 tie before the road team took off.

A pair of attacking errors and an ace by Minjares sparked a 16-11 run to pace Adrian to an opening-set win.

In the second set, The Quakers, again jumped in front early, but a 5-0 run by the Bulldogs, capitalized by a Dorow kill, kept the home side behind for good. A 6-0 stretch in the later stages of the set only solidified this fact for the black and gold, as Dorow continued to pummel the Quaker defense with three additional kills over that period.

In the game's third, and ultimately final set, Wilmington stormed out the gate to a 7-0 lead, putting Adrian in its biggest hole of the match.

A kill by Ritchie stopped the Quakers' run dead in its tracks, but the home team would not be silenced that easily, outscoring the 'Dogs 5-4 over the next nine points to maintain a sizeable cushion.

From there though, it was also Adrian.

A Wilmington attack error ignited a 14-1 run by the Bulldogs, featuring five service aces and four kills.

That run was more than enough for the locals to secure a split on the day.

Dorow, once again, led Adrian with 10 kills. Weiman and Minjares each boasted four service aces, while Weiman also led the way with 11 digs.

Ayden Cribbs and Destiny Johnson provided an additional presence at the net with three blocks each.

The Bulldogs (5-12, 1-2 MIAA) take a brief break from their current road trip for a home bout against Kalamazoo on October 5 at the Merillat Sport and Fitness Center.