WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster volleyball team ran its winning streak to 10 – a first for the program since 1984 – with a thrilling 25-23, 25-14, 21-25, 26-24, 15-10 win over Bluffton University before eighth-ranked Ohio Northern University snapped the run with a 25-21, 25-17, 25-15 victory to cap this year's Ginny Hunt Kilt Classic at Timken Gymnasium.
Junior Hayley Nash did the heavy lifting against Bluffton (6-8) with 27 kills – the most since KateLynn Riley's scoring-era-record 34 against Oberlin College in 2009 – and the Fighting Scots' star surpassed 500 career kills in the match. Nash added 13 digs and six aces, becoming the second Scot to serve up a half dozen in a match this year in the process. Two of Nash's aces thwarted Bluffton's momentum, as they came early in the fifth set as part of a 6-1 stretch.
Nash spearheaded Wooster's first-set-closing 5-0 run with two kills and a block, while senior Katie Billetdeaux teamed up with the Scots' outside hitter on the stuff and chalked up a kill for her stat line. That burst carried over to the second set's onset, where Nash turned in three kills and two aces as part of Wooster's 9-1 opening run. Nash went on to finish the second frame with six kills, and she later logged eight in the fourth set.
Senior Syd Case set up 55 Wooster kills in the win, and Billetdeaux and junior Emily Gail combined for 26 kills in support of Nash. Junior Sydney Fitzcharles led the defense with 21 digs, and sophomore Trinity Harmon bolstered the team defense with a career-high 18 digs.
Cassidy Posey hung in there with Nash with 24 kills to lead Bluffton, while Brooke Kleman had the match-high in digs at 24.
Billetdeaux emerged as Wooster's shining star in the weekend finale with 16 kills and a .481 attack percentage against the Polar Bears. Case added double-double number six to her resume with 28 assists and a team-high 15 digs.
Wooster was within three at four different points of the late stages of the opening set, and the Scots' block was a big reason why. Billetdeaux and Gail knocked down Melina Woods' attack to pull the Scots within 21-18, and Nash made it a 24-21 set by rejecting Kiki Carle's attack.
Despite getting stuffed late in the first set, Woods turned in a solid line of nine kills and six blocks, and the Polar Bears had 10 blocks in all. Ohio Northern's depth was fully showcased on the stat sheet with no player in double digits in kills, even though the team finished with 41 in the sweep.
Next, Wooster's slated to be at Capital University (1-5) at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, September 21.