The College of Wooster volleyball team battled with North Coast Athletic Conference foe Hiram College over five tight sets, eventually coming up short 17-25, 26-24, 25-23, 21-25, 13-15 Friday in the opener of a tri-match hosted by the Terriers in Price Gymnasium. Wooster went on to victory in its second match of the day, a hard-fought four-set match over Defiance College by scores of 19-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-22.

With the split, Wooster moves to 5-7 overall and 0-1 in the NCAC.

The Scots were sluggish against host Hiram in the first set of the match and took a 2-1 set lead, but eventually the Terriers pulled away for the three sets to two victory. Junior KateLynn Riley and senior Megan Earle led the way with 20 and 14 kills, respectively, while freshman setter Lizzi Beal tallied 54 assists and 10 digs. Senior libero Ali Drushal led the Scots' defensive unit racking up 37 digs, while Earle tacked on 21. Freshman Sarah Hawke added seven kills along with two block solos and a block assist.

In the second match, the Scots again came out on the short end of the first set, but turned around to win the next three against the Yellow Jackets. Wooster hit the net for 54 kills, led by a season-high 18 from senior Abbie Casey. Riley and Earle added 12 and 11, respectively. Defense was a key factor in the match as the Scots totaled 90 digs and eight total blocks. Riley led the way with two block solos, while Drushal paced Wooster with 31 digs, while Earle tallied 25 and sophomore Abby Jensen chipped in with 10. Also of note, Beal handed out 50 assists in the victory.

With her combined 68 digs during Friday's matches, Drushal is quickly approaching the North Coast Athletic Conference career digs mark. Coming into this season, she amassed 2,309 digs, and has 343 thus far this fall. With her total of 2,652, she needs just 38 more digs to surpass Wittenberg University's Emilie Schmid's total of 2,690 on the all-time list.

The Scots will be in action on Tuesday when they host Allegheny College in an NCAC tilt beginning at 7 p.m.