Erica Skillman

The College of Wooster volleyball team wasn't as sharp as it would have liked to be in its season-opening action at the Westminster Invitational, but after the Fighting Scots came up on the wrong end of three closely-contested matches, they closed out this weekend's slate with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Oberlin College to improve their record to 1-3.

Erica Skillman was the most consistent scorer throughout the four-match swing, and she made her biggest impact in the Scots' win against Oberlin, as she totaled 18 kills with a .395 hitting percentage, and also chipped in a career-high 14 assists while contributing as both a hitter and setter.

Another key in the Oberlin match was Wooster's strong serving, as the team totaled 12 aces, including four each from Skillman and Paige Parker, and most noteworthy, three from Zoe Zwegat, who hasn't been used at the service line prior to this season.

Looking at the weekend totals, Skillman was the team-leader in kills with 43, while newcomer Lydia Webster and Parker were next in line with 26 apiece. Another newcomer, Anna Emmick, had 19 kills in all, highlighted by a season-high seven in the victory.

The Scots also gained experience running their new offense this weekend, which allows several different players the opportunity to set the ball, rather than just one primary setter like we have seen in the past. Rachel Sell paced the team with 60 assists, but Brittany Nicholson (41) and Skillman (33) were also heavily-involved, which should make the Scots more dangerous as the offense continues to evolve.

Defensively, Kaitlin Banko led all back row players with 83 digs, while first-year Laura Sherer chipped in 48. At the net, Zwegat has gotten off to an exceptional start to the season with 27 total blocks coming on five solo and 22 assists.

The Scots win against Oberlin on Saturday came on set scores of 25-17, 20-25, 25-16, 22-25, 15-11. Earlier on Saturday, Wooster was edged by Penn State Behrend 3-1 (23-25, 25-17, 15-25, 18-25), and Friday, the Scots lost to Carnegie Mellon University 3-1 (10-25, 22-25, 25-23, 14-25) and Baldwin Wallace University 3-0 (20-25, 24-26, 23-25).

Wooster will look to make it two in a row when it visits Franciscan University of Steubenville on Wednesday at 7 p.m.