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| Anna Emmick |
The College of Wooster volleyball team split its Saturday matches, dropping a North Coast Athletic Conference tilt to Oberlin College in three sets (25-23, 25-17, 25-21) before rebounding to sweep Earlham College (25-13, 25-13, 25-19) in Oberlin, Ohio.
Wooster (11-4, 2-0 NCAC) jumped out to an early 8-5 lead in the first set against Oberlin (5-7, 2-0 NCAC), behind two aces from junior Lydia Webster. After the Yeowomen swung the score in their favor at 13-10, the Fighting Scots battled back as a kill from Webster tied it at 18 and they took a 21-19 lead on Webster's third ace of the frame. Wooster went ahead 23-22 off a double-block from Savannah Moore and Ashley Plassard, only to see the hosts rattle off three-straight points to take the opener.
Oberlin carried that momentum over into a more decisive second-set win, and in the final frame, the Scots got to within 23-20 late on back-to-back kills from sophomore Ksenia Klue before they were closed out.
Wooster used two big runs to pull away from Earlham (4-12) in the first set of the second match. First, four attack errors in a five-point stretch from the Quakers helped stake the Scots to an 8-3 lead, and later, kills from Anna Emmick, Megan Mey, and Eleri Miller helped jolt them on an 8-0 swing to open up a 20-10 advantage.
Wooster's front row controlled the net in the second frame, recording three blocks over an eight-point stretch, with two coming during a 5-0 run. The Scots added another block later in the frame during a 6-0 swing to pull ahead by double-digits.
Wooster utilized a balanced attack to gradually pull away in the final frame. Seven Scots recorded a kill in the set, led by Webster's four, as part of a .333 hitting percentage.
Four reached double-digit kills between the two matches in Klue (12), Webster (12), Emmick (11), and Moore (10). Defensively, Wooster was paced by Emmick's 12 blocks and first-year Jordan Murray's 19 digs.
The Scots return to Timken Gymnasium to host Allegheny College (10-6, 0-2 NCAC) on Wednesday at 7 p.m.