CINCINNATI, Ohio - The Wilmington College volleyball team split a pair of matches on Friday, defeating Central State University 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-17) for the first win of the season and falling to Cincinnati Christian University in straight sets (25-16, 25-23, 25-16). 

In the win over the Marauders, the Fightin' Quakers took a 12-5 lead in set one thanks to service runs from Mariella Szrom and Meghan Koch. Central State responded by winning nine of the next 11 points to tie the set 14-14. Wilmington, which went on to trail 17-15, reattled off three consecutive points on Marauder attack errors and a service ace from Taylor McCuistion. Central State got a side out, but a Jillian Wesco kill put Wilmington up 21-18. Unfortunately for the Quakers, a 7-0 run from Central State on a service run from Tyra Barber gave the Marauders the set one win.

Wilmington, despite hitting a negative attack percentage in set two, held Central State to an even .000 attack percentage and grit out a 25-22 win to even the match. The Quakers' offense turned up a notch in the third set hitting a .290 clip to go along with 14 kills. It was close for half of the set, but at 10-9, Wilmington won 8-of-10 points to run away and take a 2-1 advantage. 

Central State upped its hitting percentage in set four to a .240 percentage along with just one attack error, but another McCuistion run in the middle of the set gave Wilmington the victory.

Both teams hit between .100 and .150 with Central State holding a slim 39-38 edge in kills. The Quakers held a 11-7 edge in service aces.

Individually, McCuistion led Wilmington with 13 kills along with four service aces. Karley Schlensker added 21 digs while Summer Wilbur dished out 18 assists.

In the loss to Cincinnati Christian, the Quakers' offensie couldn't get going as Wesco led the team with five kills. Olivia Frazier led Cincinnati Christian with a dozen kills and a .455 attack percentage.

Wilmington heads to Ohio Christian University tomorrow (Saturday) for an 11 a.m. match.