NORTH MANCHESTER, Indiana – The Wilmington College volleyball team completed the Manchester University Invitational with losses to host Manchester and Indiana University Northwest on Saturday.
The Spartans defeated the Fightin' Quakers 3-1 (25-22, 26-24, 18-25, 25-22) while IU-Northwest swept Wilmington 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-17).
In the loss to Manchester, Wilmington battled back from an early set one deficit to take an 11-10 lead on a kill from Amber Rox, but the Spartans won 13-3 run and held that advantage to win the first set.
Wilmington looked to split the match as the Quakers took a 24-21 lead in set two thanks to a kill from Jillian Wesco, but a side out and a five-point service run from Anna Marie Lawrie gave the Spartans a 26-24 win.
The Quakers again took a lead in set three, but closed out the set this time around by holding the Spartans to a .000 attack percentage in the set. Unfortunately, Wilmington couldn't force a decisive fifth set as it battled back from an early deficit to take a 22-21 lead in set four only to see Manchester win four straight points to take the match.
Taylor McCuistion led Wilmington with a career-high 11 kills while Wesco had seven. Jacie Koontz and Grace Ewing split the setting duties and combined for 29 assists while Karley Schlensker had 23 digs.
Haley Duncan and Hannah Tevis combined for 30 of Manchester's 50 kills as a team. Lawrie had 25 digs for the Spartans.
In the loss to IU-Northwest, the Red Hawks were held to under a .250 attack percentage in each set, but the Quakers failed to hit over a .150 clip in any of the three sets.
Wesco led Wilmington with eight kills and four errors on 18 swings while Mariella Szrom added six kills. Koontz finished with 13 assists while McCuistion had a team-high 12 digs.
Emileshka De Jesus led the Red Hawks with 14 kills while Mhejhana Williams put down nine attacks for points. The IU-Northwest setting duo of Maddie Mastman and Cara Nebel combined to assist on 34-of-43 kills. Jade Mulvaney had 16 digs to lead the Red Hawks' back row.
Amber Rox was named to the All-Tournament team.
Wilmington (1-11) hosts Bluffton University on Wednesday, Sept. 19.
