DEFIANCE, Ohio -- Defiance College clinched the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season championship in volleyball with a 13-25, 25-17, 27-25, 25-21 victory over Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology on Sunday afternoon.
Defiance won its second consecutive league regular season title by coming from behind in sets three and four to earn the match win.
Junior Sarah Jensen recorded her 20th career triple-double and her eighth of the season to lead the Fightin' Engineer offense. Jensen smashed 13 kills with 25 assists and 10 digs on the afternoon.
Sophomore Morgan Dreyer added 12 kills, 22 assists and nine digs, while senior Briana Harvey contributed seven kills and 14 digs. Freshman Gabi Razma had 24 digs, while sophomore Emily McLendon led the blocking effort with four assists.
Freshman Becca Poppel pitched in with nine kills, and McLendon had eight for Rose-Hulman.
Meredith Shank paced the Defiance offense with 18 kills, and Bree Anderson added 17. Alicia Kalik had 52 assists, and Rebecca Kain had a team-high 21 digs for the Yellow Jackets.
Defiance improved to 17-10 overall and 8-0 in league play, while Rose-Hulman dropped to 13-16 and 4-4 in conference matches. The Fightin' Engineers close the conference regular season schedule with a match at Manchester on Saturday. Rose-Hulman would secure a place in the HCAC Tournament with a win at Manchester.
