Jackets Volleyball rolls to four-set win for fourth straight win

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The hot start to the season carried over into the second week of competition for the Defiance Yellow Jackets by downing the Oakland City Mighty Oaks 3-1 on Friday.

With the win, the Yellow Jackets (4-1) matched the team's win total from last season and the previous three. DC volleyball has not started 4-1 since starting the 2003 season 11-0. 

Gabby Rodriguez shined on both ends of the serve for DC by leading the team with 17 kills and 22 digs. Her 17 kills is the most by a Yellow Jacket through five matches and the most since Shelby Clements recorded 18 in a match last October. Kaylee Dickinson posted a team-best 23 digs to set a new bar for her young career in purple and gold.

The first three sets of the day were one-sided affairs. Defiance took charge of the first set after a 7-7 start and closed out a 25-17 win. In the second set, Oakland City sprinted to a 15-7 lead thanks to five Defiance hitting errors. Defiance fought back to within two points but the Oaks cleaned things up for a nine-point victory.

The Yellow Jackets claimed each of the last two sets to secure their fourth straight win. Chaney Brodbeck and Kendra Kline had lengthy turns serving in the third set to help build a 15-5 advantage while Amina Chamoun distributed seven of her 30 assists in the third frame. The fourth set was the most competitive of the match with DC clinching the match with a 25-22 win. Rogriguez recorded four straight Defiance points as the set started out 4-4, and then added two more during the longest run of the set by either team to push DC ahead to 15-10. While DC hit .160 for the match, Oakland City committed 28 errors with the last one resulting in the match's final point.

UP NEXT
The Yellow Jackets play two more matches in Fort Wayne with contests against Bethel and Saint Francis on Saturday. The first serve against Bethel will be at 1:15 p.m. and the day concludes with a 5:30 p.m. match against the tournament hosting Cougars.

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