 Dani Bird |
 Rachel Tinklenberg |
 Maggie Stehly |
MITCHELL, S.D. – Dakota Wesleyan University wrapped up its second home tournament in as many weekends with several close matches over the weekend. The Tigers hosted the DWU Corn Palace Classic Friday and Saturday, Sept. 7-8, at the Corn Palace, and went 1-3 on the weekend.
Dakota Wesleyan started the weekend with a 3-1 win against Valley City State University Friday morning. The Tigers won the first two sets 25-22 and 25-18 before the Vikings took the third set 25-21. DWU came back to win a tight fourth set 28-26 to win the game. Dani Bird led all hitters with 16 kills for the Tigers. Rachel Tinklenberg added 14 and Sam Sandau finished with 11. Bri Jung had 41 assists, and Bird and Maggie Stehly led the Tiger defense with eight digs each. Tinklenberg also had three block assists.
Friday night, DWU played right with Clarke University (Iowa) in all three games, but lost 3-1. Clarke won 25-19, 25-23, 23-25 and 26-24. Bird had 15 kills, Tinklenberg added 11 and Sandau finished with 10. Jung had 37 assists and 13 digs and Bird added 13 digs and three block assists. Elizabeth Mahsem also had four block assists.
Saturday morning the Tigers played College of St. Mary’s (Neb.), and each of the four sets was decided by three points or less. St. Mary’s came away with a 3-1 win (26-24, 25-22, 22-25, 25-23). Bird had 19 kills and Tinklenberg added 18. Jung had 36 assists and 12 digs. Stehly added 22 digs, Bird finished with 16 and Katie Lindow also had 15 digs.
The Tigers ended the weekend with a game against in-state rival Dakota State University. Dakota Wesleyan won the first set 27-25, but Dakota State came back to win the next three and won the match 3-1 (25-27, 28-26, 25-16, 25-15). Bird had 11 kills and Tinklenberg and Mahsem each added nine. Jung had 24 assists and Kelli Swenson chipped in with 14. Bird paced the defense with 20 digs, Stehly finished with 14 and Jung added 11.
Dakota Wesleyan is now 3-10 overall and is back at home Wednesday, Sept. 12 when it opens the Great Plains Athletic Conference season against Dordt College. The JV game starts at 6 p.m. at the Corn Palace with the varsity game to follow at 7:30 p.m. The game will be webcast live online at http://www.justin.tv/cornpalace/videos.
More News:
- Viney starts 2013 recruiting class with four signees
- Sandau, Swenson earn scholar-athlete honors
- Bird, Tinklenberg earn All-GPAC honors
- Eriksen, Jung earn CoSIDA academic honors
- Tigers end season at Hastings