WILMINGTON, Ohio - The Wilmington College volleyball team won a tight set one, but Earlham College rattled off the next three sets to claim the Quaker Bowl Rivalry match 3-1 (27-29, 25-14, 25-16, 25-22) at Fred Raizk Arena on Tuesday evening.
Earlham opened the first set by winning 6-of-8 points, but a service run from Mariella Szrom tied the set up 12-12. Neither team would lead by more than two points until an Adriana Middleton service ace put the Fightin' Quakers up 20-17 and forcing a timeout from the Hustlin' Quakers. Earlham would eventually tie the set 23-23 only to face a set point as a bad set gave Wilmington a chance to go up 1-0. A service error from the hosts and a kill from the visitors gave Earlham its first set point at 25-24, but a block from Morgan Loomis and Meghan Koch kept the set going. Both teams would fail to convert on their next set points, but a Jillian Wesco kill at 27-27 followed by a service ace from Karley Schlensker gave Wilmington the set 29-27.
Both teams hit nearly the same attack percentage in set one, but Wilmington couldn't keep up that offensive level in sets two and three. The hosts hit a negative clip in set two and an even .000 in set three while the visitors tallied a .175 attack percentage in set two and put down 11 kills in set three.
Trailing 2-1, Wilmington found itself down 15-10 in set four, but a Schlensker service run tied the set 15-15. The host Quakers would tie the set against 18-18 six points later, but wouldn't ever take the lead. An Earlham kill at 23-22 gave the visitors match point, and a service ace that followed ended the match.
Earlham finished with 45 kills and a .090 attack percentage while Wilmington had 33 kills and 31 errors for a .013 hitting percentage. The visitors also won the serve-pass game with nine aces compared to 14 reception errors for the hosts.
Individually, Wesco was the lone Quaker to tally double digits in kills with 10. The Wilmington trio of Taylor McCuistion, Koch and Loomis all finished with six kills. Setter Summer Wilbur dished out 27 assists while Schlensker, Wesco and Wilbur had 23, 22 and 17 digs respectively.
Sarah Dickman and Caroline Mulvihill combined for 25 kills for Earlham while Erin Wagner and Lauren Jackson combined for 37 assists. Libero Sydney Ameluxen led the squad in digs with 23.
Wilmington (1-6) travels to Ohio Wesleyan University for three matches this weekend.
