LIVONIA, Mich. – The Indiana Tech women's volleyball team fell to Cornerstone University, 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-21) in the semifinals of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Tournament Friday night inside the Alliance Catholic Credit Union Arena on the campus of Madonna University.
Emma Westra had a team-best nine kills to go along with two blocks and two digs while
Taylor Paul added seven kills and three digs.
Andrea Schriver had 22 assists while Kelsey Schladenbrand dished out 12 and both setters notched five digs each.
Jacey Blust had 19 digs while
Olivia Gessner had 11.
Havilyn Cummings made six blocks.
The two teams were even in the early going of the first set, which featured eight ties and two lead changes in all. Tech held an 13-11 lead until a 5-0 run from Cornerstone put them ahead 16-13 and forced a timeout from the Warriors bench. A double block from Cummings and Paul stopped the run, but the Golden Eagles pushed their lead to 22-16. Following their second timeout of the set, the Warriors found some momentum following a block from Westra and Cummings to rattle off six straight points and forcing the Golden Eagles to use both of their timeouts after the score got knotted up at 22. A service error gave Cornerstone the momentum back though as they ended the set on a 3-0 run to go up 1-0 in the match.
The Golden Eagles got out to a 6-4 lead in the second, but Tech was able to battle back and go up 9-8. The two teams continued to trade points and leads until a 6-3 spurt from Cornerstone made it a 19-15 game. The Warriors were unable to recover and fell behind 2-0 after the Golden Eagles took the second set 25-19.
Cornerstone controlled the action early in the third with an 8-3 run to force a timeout from the Warriors. The Golden Eagles continued to push their advantage with a steady attack and held a 19-10 lead following the second timeout of the set from Tech. The Warriors managed to string together a 7-2 run to cut the deficit to 21-17, but faced an incredible climb after CU took the next two points. A service error followed by two straight kills from Westra through, made it a 23-20 game to put the pressure on the second-seeded Golden Eagles, but they prevailed with two of the next three points to complete the sweep.
Tech ends the 2021 season with a 24-13 record, the sixth time over the last 10 seasons they've won 20 or more matches.
