Jared Berg
Contributing Writer In recent weeks, The College of Wooster volleyball team has found their winning form, beating both Albion College and Kenyon College in their past two games to end a four-game losing skid and bring their total number of wins on the season to seven.
When the Scots faced Albion College, a milestone was on the line with head coach Sarah Davis attempting to become the winningest coach in the College’s volleyball program’s history.
After splitting the first two sets, the Scots narrowly beat out Albion in the next two to seize the match. The turning point of the match came midway through the fourth set. With the Scots trailing 11-5, a decisive fifth set seemed to be in the cards. However, Wooster battled back to tie the set at 17-17 before going ahead on a well-placed ace shot from Savannah Moore ’17.
The point was one of fourteen aces for Wooster on the night (their highest total since 2010). Lydia Webster ’17 continued her standout season with a career-high 14 kills, while setter Brittany Nicholson ’16 led with 17 assists. The victory ensured Davis her 130th win at the College.
“Even though Albion wasn’t a conference game, it was good competition to prepare us for our upcoming conference matches,” said Webster.
The Scots traveled south to Gambier, Ohio to face off with conference foe Kenyon College and attempt to win consecutive games for the second time this season as well as clinch their first conference win of the season. Unlike the match against Albion, the Scots did not allow their opponent to win a single set as they swept the Kenyon Ladies 3-0. The Scots narrowly edged out the Ladies in the first set by a score of 25-23 before distancing themselves in the next two sets 25-19 and 25-17 triumphs. Webster and Moore led the Scots’ offense with 11 kills each. Defensively, the Scots had a season-high 11 blocks, paced by Webster (5 blocks) and Anna Emmick ’17, whose third block ended the third set to clinch the victory for the Scots. Additionally, the Scots found points off of eleven aces, with Rachel Sell ’15 serving up four.
“These conference matches are going to be very impactful on our seeding for the conference tournament in November,” added Webster. “Winning these matches can put us in a good position to do well. I am very excited about how well we played against Albion and Kenyon. I think we played much better as a cohesive unit and am excited to see what is in store for us as the tournament approaches.”
The Scots (7-15) looked to continue their winning ways when they traveled to Granville to face Denison University (10-11) Tuesday after press time. Today, they travel to Delaware, Ohio to square off against the Battling Bishops of Ohio Wesleyan (14-9).