MEADVILLE, Pennsylvania – The College of Wooster volleyball team split a pair of matches at the David V. Wise Center on Saturday, defeating Westminster College (Pennsylvania) 3-1 (25-22, 21-25, 29-27, 25-19) before rounding out the day with a 3-0 defeat (25-13, 25-19, 25-19) at the hands of host Allegheny College.
In the win over the Titans, the Fighting Scots jumped out to an early 9-3 lead, thanks to a kill from first-year Jordan Laraway. Wooster held at least a five-point edge through the middle portion of the set and led 21-15 after senior Ty Thompson found junior Amelia Mitchell for a kill that forced a Titan timeout. The brief stoppage in action seemed to work as a side out sent Westminster's Angie Nardone to the service line. The sophomore served out four straight points to make the score 21-20, but after a Wooster timeout, Mitchell served three times after a side out to give the Scots set point. The Titans fought off the first two, but sophomore Tamara Turner teamed up with Mitchell for a block to end it.
Westminster leveled the match in set two by holding Wooster under a .100 attack percentage and looked to go up 2-1 in the match in set three, but the Scots had other ideas. Similar to the first set, Wooster took an 18-12 lead, only to see it dwindle. This time, however, the Titans battled all the way back as a Wooster attack error tied the set 23-23. A Mitchell kill gave the Scots their first set point, but ball handling error followed by an attack error gave Westminster its first set point at 25-24. An attack error kept the set going, and although the Titans would have set points at 26-25 and 27-26, they could not convert. A kill from senior Caroline Dillard made the score 27-27 and a service ace followed by another Wooster block gave the Scots a 2-1 lead in the match.
Seemingly energized by the marathon set victory, Wooster hit a .227 clip in the final set and secured the match just has it had sets one and three, with a block, this time from Mitchell and junior Olivia Kitchen.
Wooster finished with 58 kills and 28 errors on 172 swings (.174) and tallied seven blocks as a team. Dillard and Mitchell both finished with double-digit kills at 19 and 12, respectively. Thompson and first-year Emma Fleck ran the Scots' 6-2 offense and assisted on 49 kills. Senior Trinity Harmon led the back row with a career-high 26 digs.
Westminster was held to a .100 attack percentage with Lauren Lamps leading the way with 15 kills and a .279 attack percentage. Nardone and Anna-Kate Davis combined for 38 assists, while Malia Duffy chipped in 26 digs.
In the nightcap, the Gators took the first set, thanks to a blistering .476 attack percentage while holding the Scots to more errors than kills. Although the final two sets were much more competitive, Wooster could not match Allegheny point for point, as the hosts were the first 15 in both games and held that advantage for the straight-set win.
A quartet of Gators combined for all of the squad's offense as Angelee Bawek had 13 kills, Emma Chambers tallied a dozen, and both Dagney Javes and Sydney Kirk had seven kills. In total, Allegheny hit .281, had nine service aces, and logged seven blocks.
Dillard and Mitchell finished with 10 and seven kills, respectively, for the Scots, accounting for 16 of the squad's 26 kills. Fleck and Thompson combined for 21 assists.
Wooster (7-11) steps back into North Coast Athletic Conference competition with a match at Ohio Wesleyan University (16-3, 3-0 NCAC) on Wednesday, October 18. First serve from Branch Rickey Arena is slated for 7 p.m.