Wooster Aces, Blocks Way Past Shenango

SHARON, Pennsylvania – The College of Wooster volleyball team scored its 10th win of the season with Monday's 25-23, 25-9, 22-25, 25-14 victory at Pennsylvania State University Shenango.

Wooster (10-12) came close to matching season-highs in aces and blocks. The Fighting Scots' 15 aces were two off the season's top mark, while the 11 blocks were one shy a team season-best. Junior Izzy Cozzie was a key part of both near-season-high totals with four aces and two blocks. She was matched by sophomore Emma Fleck for high individual honors in aces, while sophomore Jordan Laraway served up three aces. In fact, all five Scots who had aces in the match had at least two.

Wooster took a set one lead at 20-19 on a Shenango service error. Senior Amelia Mitchell and Fleck blocked Sydney Ward to up Wooster's lead to 21-19 before Laraway's serve was unable to be handled by Gabby Villanueva. Wooster grabbed hold of the lead for good on a Cozzie kill that made it 24-23. Shenango's Kylee Loreno could not convert on attack to give set one to Wooster.

Wooster raced out to a 5-0 lead in set two, with two of the points coming on Fleck aces. It was 11-3 after Cozzie's ace, and the lead reached nine on a Shenango attack error. Wooster closed out set two on a 9-1 run. Sophomore Kora Burill was in on three straight scoring plays during the closing stretch with consecutive kills and a block on a Loreno attack.

The Scots pulled away in set four with a 6-0 run. Senior Tamara Turner's kill started the run of Wooster points, and Laraway's ace ended it with the Scots' ahead 19-9. Laraway fired off two aces in the run, and the Scots received a block from Turner and classmate Olivia Kitchen on a Maggie Briggs attack attempt.

With Wooster scoring over a set's worth of points in aces and blocks, kills were at a minimum when it came to unforced-error scoring plays. Balance was evident though when it came to kills, with Mitchell and Turner tying for the team-high with seven. Cozzie followed with six, and Kitchen rounded out the Scots with at least five.

Senior Lucy Kinser led the defense with 26 digs, tying a season-high. It marked the libero's sixth match with at least 20 digs this fall. Turner followed with 14 digs. Fleck added 23 assists and a block to the Monday night stat line.

Loreno led Shenango with 11 kills and nine digs.

Next, Wooster plays a tri-match at Pennsylvania State University Behrend (6-15) on Saturday, October 19. Wooster opens with a 2:30 p.m. match against Pennsylvania State University Altoona (11-9) before taking on the hosts at 4:30 p.m.