Julie Kendall
Sports Editor
The College of Wooster volleyball team went 1-1 during their busy Homecoming weekend schedule, defeating Case Western Reserve University in five sets on Friday night. The team fell to the reigning NCAA Div. III champions, Wittenberg University in a competitive struggle on Saturday afternoon.
In Friday’s thrilling five-set duel, the Scots and the Spartans squared off in an extended battle, in which Wooster outlasted Case to win 3-2 (33-31, 19-25, 21-25, 26-24, 15-12). The first set was a continuous back-and-forth contest, in which the two teams tied 14 times, including five set-point situations in favor of the Spartans. Wooster kept striking back, finally pulling ahead 32-31 with a kill from Zoe Zwegat ’14. They sealed the win with an additional point off of a Case net penalty.
The Scots jumped to an 11-4 lead early in the second set, but were faced with a Spartans’ comeback that tied the score at 15. Case surged ahead with a 10-4 run, and took the set 19-25.
It was the Scots’ turn to rally in the third set, overcoming an early eight-point deficit to pull within one point at 20-21. But the Spartans maintained their advantage to win 25-21. The fourth set was another continuously tight one, in which the two teams stayed within three points of each other the entire contest. A kill by Erica Skillman ’14 put Wooster in the lead 25-24, with a mishit by Case giving them the set-winning point to push the match to a fifth set.
Wooster carried their momentum into the final set, where they jumped to an early 5-1 lead, and never gave it up. Devin Grandi ’13 tallied five kills on the set, and supplied three of the final four points for the Scots’ 15-12 victory.
It was a night of individual records for a number of players, including setter Autumn Berry ’14 with 56 assists. Paige Parker ’14 tied her career-high number of kills with 23, the most for the game. Other big contributors were Melissa Morgan ’13 and Grandi who recorded 11 kills each, and Kelley Johnson ’13 on defense with 34 digs.
Following their hard-fought win over Case, the Scots took on their NCAC arch-rivals from Wittenberg University (10-2, 2-0 NCAC) in Saturday’s Homecoming highlight match. The defending national champions proved to be too much for the Scots, winning 3-1 (11-25, 25-21, 11-25, 10-25) at Timken Gymnasium in front of a sizable Homecoming crowd.
Despite their formidable foes, Wooster played competitively, and got their first set win against the Tigers since 1994 in the game’s second set. After trailing in the beginning, the Scots put together a 4-0 run, and maintained the advantage until the Tigers tied it up at 17-17, and again at 19-19. Wooster surged ahead with a 6-2 run, securing their victory at 25-21.
Leading the Scots for the day was Skillman, who had 12 kills and a .355 hitting percentage, and Johnson with 21 digs.
Following an impressive week of performances, Parker was awarded NCAC Player of the Week honors, as announced on Monday. As of press time, she led the roster in kills this season with 201 (an average of 3.14 per set).
Wooster currently stands at 11-5 (1-1 NCAC). They played Capital University (6-13) on the road Wednesday, and will host conference opponents DePauw University (13-2, 1-0 NCAC) on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Timken Gymnasium.