GLASSBORO, N.J. – The Kenyon College volleyball team traveled a long way, but found a home away from home Friday night. The Ladies commenced play in the five-team, two-day Rowan University Invitational by first knocking off the host Profs, 3-2, and then followed up with a 3-0 win over Centenary College.
The victories doubled the Ladies' win total for the season, moved their overall mark to 4-17, and matched their win total from the entire previous season. With at least nine matches left in this season, there is an excellent chance the Ladies can put together their best record since 2011.
The opening match against Rowan was extremely tight. The Profs won the first set 25-22. Kenyon came back with a pair of 25-23 wins in the next two sets. In the fourth, Rowan cruised to a 25-12 win, but Kenyon bounced back in the fifth and deciding set with a 15-13 victory. Remarkably, the Ladies took the last set after trailing 8-1.
Things looked even bleaker as Rowan forged ahead to 13-4 lead. The tide turned abruptly when the Profs' Morgan Mende committed a service error. After that, Kenyon freshman
Tierney McClure went on a serving spree that saw the Ladies reel off 11 straight points to take the win. During the improbable run, both junior
Katie Goulder and freshman
Jensen Shurbert put down a pair of kills. The second of Shurbert's kills won the match.
Overall, McClure racked up 15 kills against Rowan (9-13). Goulder had eight kills and both Shurbert and Kerr had seven. Shurbert also rang up 21 assists and Goulder had 19 digs.
The second match was not as close. Kenyon rolled to a 25-7, 25-16, 25-10 win over Centenary (0-23). The lopsided win allowed coach
Amanda Krampf to deal out valuable playing team to reserves.
Alexandra Hansen led the way against Centenary by smashing six kills for the Ladies.
Bridget Murdoch chipped in with five more kills, while McClure, Kerr, and
Grace Riley each added four. Shurbert had five aces and her 13 assists gave her a total of 34 for the day. Hansen also managed nine digs and Murdoch had seven.
The Ladies, who had a season-best .273 attack percentage against Centenary, will finish off Invitational play with two more matches Saturday. At 10 a.m. they'll take on Penn State Abington and then at noon they'll battle Hunter College.
Kenyon freshman Jensen Shurbert led the Ladies to wins over Rowan and Centenary
on Friday night. In the two matches combined, Shurbert had 34 assists, nine service
aces, seven kills, and six digs.
