Ksenia Klue

Lydia Webster

The College of Wooster volleyball team won three of its four matches - including two via sweeps - at the Bearcat Challenge this weekend at Saint Vincent College's Robert S. Carey Center in Latrobe, Pa.

Led by senior Lydia Webster, who was named to the all-tournament team, Wooster (3-1) opened its season with a 3-1 win over Franciscan University of Steubenville (22-25, 25-21, 25-16, 25-21), and followed that with a 25-22, 25-10, 25-17 blanking of Muskingum University on Friday evening. On Saturday, Wooster rebounded from a 25-20, 25-19, 25-19 setback against Baldwin Wallace University to sweep Westminster College (Pa.) 25-15, 25-18, 25-20.

In the season lid-lifter on Friday, junior Taylor Mathews turned in a double-double in her first match with the Fighting Scots with a 40-assist, 21-dig match, while senior Anna Emmick and junior Ksenia Klue combined for nearly one-half (23-of-49) of Wooster's kills. The Scots' backrow had a stellar match with sophomore libero Gabrielle Basinski leading the charge with 32 digs.

Against Muskingum, Mathews notched her second double-double of the day with 28 assists and 15 digs, and added six kills on just 10 swings from her setter spot against her former team. Up front, Klue led the way with 10 kills, while sophomore Marija Cyvas added eight. Those totals were backed up by Webster's seven kills and three solo blocks. At the service line, Jordan Murray was responsible for three of Wooster's six aces.

Webster stood out among Wooster's hitters in the Baldwin Wallace match on Saturday, smashing down 10 kills on 23 swings with no errors. The Scots' could not mount much consistency in the match in terms of hitting percentage, but 18 digs from Mathews and 13 from Basinski helped keep the Scots relatively close.

Wooster was firing on all cylinders in the Westminster match as the Scots' recorded a collective .290 hitting percentage as a team in the first set, and then upped that clip to .333 in the second frame. Individually, Klue led the way with 12 kills, and was backed up by Emmick's nine. Notable, the Scots' recorded six blocks in the match with Cyvas and Emmick notching three each.

For the weekend, the Scots' featured a balanced attack as four student-athletes averaged at least two kills per set in Klue (2.77), Webster (2.38), Emmick (2.23) and Cyvas (2.00). Defensively, Basinski and Mathews combined for 134 digs, while Mathews totaled three double-doubles.

Next, Wooster heads back to Pennsylvania for a 7 p.m. match on Wednesday against Thiel College.