CINCINNATI, Ohio - The Wilmington College volleyball team dropped a non-conference match at Mount St. Joseph University (MSJ), falling 25-19, 25-12, 25-23 on Tuesday evening.
In set one, neither team led by more than two points for the first half of the set until a kill from Brooke Aselage, who averages nearly four kills per set, put one down to give MSJ a 14-11 lead. Summer Wilbur found Mariella Szrom for a kill on the next point, but Aselage served six consecutive points that forced both timeouts from Wilmington Head Coach Andy Riesenberg, a 2003 MSJ graduate.
A Lion attack error stopped the run, and the Fightin' Quakers battled back to within a point as Morgan Loomis and Meghan Koch teamed up for a block. Now up by just a point, a quick MSJ run gave the hosts the set one win.
Set two did not go well for Wilmington as the Quakers hit under a .100 clip while the Lions had their best offensive set of the match posting a .227 attack percentage the set. The visitors did play much better in the third set as Wilmington matched MSJ kill for kill (both teams had 13). MSJ opened with the lead and forced Riesenberg to call his final timeout trailing 15-8. Long service runs from Wilbur gave Wilmington a slim 19-18 advantage. That lead wouldn't hold, however, as Julie Sucher gave the Lions the win with a kill.
Wilmington finished the match with a .084 attack percentage while MSJ hit a .145 clip. The Lions also held the advantage in the serve and pass game with 11 aces and just two reception errors. The Quakers countered with three blocks to zero for the hosts.
Individually, Wesco tallied 11 kills and a .158 attack percentage to go along with eight digs. Szrom added four kills and a .267 clip while no other Quaker had more than four kills. Wilbur dished out 21 assists while Karley Schlensker led the back row with 21 digs.
Aselage led MSJ offensively with 18 kills and defensively with 22 digs. Buschur assisted on 32-of-37 Lion kills.
Wilmington (2-12) heads to the University of Cincinnati Clermont College for two matches this weekend.