Yellow Jackets drop final two matches at Emileigh Jo Cooper Memorial

RIO GRANDE, Ohio – After picking up two wins on Friday, the Defiance Yellow Jackets closed the weekend 2-2 after falling to the host Rio Grande Red Storm and Shawnee State Bears at the Emileigh Jo Cooper Memorial on Saturday.

The two defeats each had features that the Yellow Jackets (6-5) had not previously committed to date on the season, which was one match with a negative hitting percentage and the other being a straight-set defeat. In spite of those events taking place, Defiance College closes the month of August with a winning record before conference play begins next week.

Game 1 vs. Rio Grande, L 3-1 (16-25, 25-23, 13-25, 21-25)
The Yellow Jackets came up short against the Red Storm in their first match of the day as Rio Grande improved to 7-3 on the season and 3-0 on the weekend. The match started with Defiance losing the first set for the first time since the season's first match of the season, snapping an eight-match streak of winning the first set. The stat sheet read polar opposites in terms of success in the attack game with Rio Grand converted 21 percent of their attacks into points while DC was in the negative with 31 errors compared to 30 kills. It was the first match of the season in which the Yellow Jackets had a negative attack percentage. 

The Jackets' lone set win was the second set by a narrow 25-23 margin. It was the team's best-attacking set of the contest with 12 kills, including four by Jaelyn Tomoletz and three by Gabby Rodriguez. 

Game 2 vs. Shawnee State, L3-0 (19-25, 20-25, 19-25)
After an early-morning start to the day, the Jackets returned to the court in the early afternoon and suffered their first straight-set loss of the season. Defiance faced a Shawnee State squad that had very crisp hitting from the get-go, converting 41 percent of their attacks in the first and scoring 16 of 25 points in the attack game. While the Bears cooled off in the second set, they managed to commit just three attack errors in the third set to clinch the match. 

Rodriguez led Defiance with 11 kills in the match while Kaylee Dickinson dug out 14 attacks to pace the team.

UP NEXT
The Yellow Jackets open conference play against the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference's defending champions, Indiana Tech, on Wednesday night. First serve against the Warriors is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Schaefer Center in Fort Wayne.

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