Rachel Sell

WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster volleyball team saved its best offensive effort of the year for Case Western Reserve University, as it posted 52 kills and a .255 hitting percentage against its northeast Ohio rival, but the Spartans withstood the attack to edge out the Fighting Scots 3-1 in the regular season finale for both teams Saturday afternoon at Timken Gymnasium.

Wooster (7-20) got behind early in the first set, 15-5, but went on to outscore Case Western Reserve (16-11) by a 13-10 margin down the stretch, en route to a narrow 25-18 loss.

The Scots took that momentum and carried it over into the second set, especially late, when they turned a 15-15 tie into a 22-18 advantage thanks to an impressive 7-3 scoring run. Ksenia Klue had two of her career-high 13 kills during that critical spurt, and shortly after, she delivered the last two kills of the set to give Wooster a 25-22 win.

After the third set got away from them (25-14), the Scots jumped out to a 7-2 advantage in the fourth set, before the Spartans came back to knot the score at 11-11. The two teams went back-and-forth for the remainder of the stanza, and Wooster was only down by three at the end (22-19), but Case Western Reserve hung on to win the set (25-19) and the match.

Overall, Wooster's .255 hitting percentage marked a season-high, with 52 kills and just 16 errors on 141 swings. The Scots were in a zone in the second set, with a .467 hitting percentage.

There were several noteworthy individual performances, including double-digit kills from Klue (13), Savannah Moore (12), and Lydia Webster (10). Moore also added 17 digs for a double-double, while Klue nearly did the same with eight digs.

Anna Emmick kept up her hot hitting, with a new career-high eight kills, while Mayia Karayianni was one kill shy of her personal best with six.

For the first time this season, both setters Sydney Virgin and Brittany Nicholson went over 20 assists in the same match, with 23 and 20, respectively.

Defensively, libero Rachel Sell, who was honored for "Senior Day" before the match, totaled the second most digs of her career with 25, while adding another two service aces to push her team-high total to 29.

Next up for the Scots is the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament. Wooster will take on top-seeded Wittenberg University (23-3, 8-0 NCAC) in the quarterfinal round Friday at 7 p.m.