GRANVILLE, Ohio - The Wilmington College volleyball team dropped a pair of matches to conclude the Big Red Invitational at Denison University on Saturday. The Quakers fell to Franklin College 36-34, 26-24, 25-21 and to Washington & Jefferson College (25-20, 25-18, 11-25, 25-22).
Though the Grizzlies went three sets, the first two sets went past 25 points including a marathon first set that featured 70 points in total. The Quakers had five set points while Franklin had seven, and won the seventh on an attack error. In set two, WC got out to an 8-2 lead, but it wouldn't hold as Sofia Thomas was blocked by a pair of Grizzlies at 14-14. After a side out, Emma Schroer served out four points, including two that ended in Sarah Brown kills, to take a 19-15 lead.
Franklin began to chip away, but WC look to even the match up 24-21. Unfortunately, five straight Grizzly points ended the second set. The third set was a battle until a Tayler Anderson service run gave Franklin enough cushion to win the set.
Wilmington hit a .076 clip with 45 kills that included 14 from Thomas and 10 from Joy Bebe. Andie Dolven and Kyra Frasier combined for 37 assists and Schroer led the back row in digs with 20. Franklin hit not much better (.164), but controlled the net with 11 total team blocks. Hope Moring put down 14 kills with Maddie Barnes joining Moring to assist on 38 kills.
In the nightcap, the Presidents kept the ball in place just a bit more than the Quakers. W&J didn't hit over a .230 clip in any set and were held under .200 in 3-of-4 sets, but Wilmington was held under a .100 clip in 3-of-4 sets. In the set they won, the Quakers hit a blistering .583 clip with 16 kills and just two errors.
Dolven and Frasier assisted on 33-of-49 kills with Thomas (12 kills) and Kieran Yarkosky (nine kills) leading the way offensively. Schroer had a career-high 24 digs in the loss. The Presidents featured a balanced scoring attack as five individuals - Rian Benz, Lizzie Carmichael, Faith Fetsko, Sophie Little and Jaden Blough - had at least a half-dozen kills. Bella Anzevino led the back row with 17 digs.
Wilmington (0-3) returns home to host Central State University on Wednesday. First serve is slated for 7 p.m.
