WILMINGTON, Ohio - The Wilmington College volleyball team rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Anderson University 19-25, 23-25, 25-19, 25-22, 15-13 in a non-conference match at Fred Raizk Arena on Wednesday evening.
"It was a whole team win tonight," Head Coach Sophie Windover said. "We had some players come in and fill some rolls at critical points in the match. Everyone rose to the occasions. Our pins were on tonight, and the atmosphere was electric. Our bench was winning just as much as the players on the court were. "
Both times hit a over a .300 clip in set one, but it was the Ravens who took the set by keeping the Fightin' Quakers out of system with seven of their dozen service aces in the match in the first set alone. The hosts looked to even the match in set two as Sarah Brown and Bailey Pohlman teamed up for a block to make the score 21-18, but the visitors rattled off four straight point to regain the lead. After a couple of sideouts, the set was knotted at 23-23, but kills from Tess Perdue and Kelsie Marker put AU up 2-0 and looking for a sweep.
Wilmington's resiliency showed, however, as the team hit a blistering .340 clip in set three, and used a Blake O'Brien service run to break an 18-18 deadlock in set four to send the match the distance. In set five, Anderson found itself up 4-2, but the Quakers were able to have a critical roll filled as after a Sydney Geibel kill gave the hosts the serve, Windover subbed in Carissa Oeder, who hadn't played a point in the previous four sets, to serve. The freshman from Morrow, Ohio, began with an ace to tie the set 4-4, but served six more times before a service error ended the run with WC ahead 9-5. Anderson battled back to tie the set 13-13, but unlike set two, this one went the way of Wilmington as a Sofia Thomas kill followed by a Raven attack error completed the come-from-behind victory.
As a team, the Quakers hit a .217 clip for the match while the Ravens tallied a .144 attack percentage. The Ravens held a 12-4 advantage in service aces while WC won the battle at the net with an 11-7 edge in blocking.
Offensively, Wilmington setter Andie Dolven dished out a career high 55 assists and was masterful in spreading the ball around. Thomas, Geibel and Brown all had at least a dozen kills while Lili Green, Joy Bebe, Bailey Pohlman and Dolven herself all had at least a half-dozen kills.
"Andie [Dolven] in an incredibly smart player and gets our offense flowing," said Windover. "That's exactly what you need a setter to do. I'd also like to acknowledge our hitters doing a great job of tooling off the block and finding holes in the defense."
Ashlyn Transier finished with 21 kills and a .541 attack percentage to lead Anderson in defeat while Perdue had 13 kills. Kate Todd and Carmen Soloria combined to assist on 52 kills.
Defensively, O'Brien dug up a career-best 47 balls while Geibel, Thomas and Macee Hamilton also had double-digit dig performances. Thomas, Bebe and Pohlman combined for 14 block assists.
"Our block is learning quickly how to read across the net," Windover said. "We have a couple rough matches in early in the month, but this team is hitting its stride as we turn the calendar to October."
Wilmington (7-11) will open Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) play at John Carroll University at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
