CINCINNATI, Ohio—Eight matches into the season and it appears the young Kenyon College volleyball team is hitting its stride. After a 3-1 loss to Heidelberg University last night, the Ladies rebounded with 3-1 wins of their own Saturday against The College of Mount Saint Joseph and Maryville (TN) College.

The victories were the Ladies' third and fourth in their last five matches and they improved the team's overall season record to 5-3. Mount Saint Joseph fell to 3-4 with the 20-25, 25-15, 25-20, 25-17 loss and Maryville slid to 1-6 after suffering a 25-23, 23-25, 25-16, 25-13 defeat.

Kenyon actually started the day slowly, dropping its first set 25-20 to the host Lions of Mount Saint Joseph. In set two, sophomore Tierney McClure got the Ladies back on track. Looking at a 6-4 deficit, McClure put down a kill and then followed up with three straight service aces. From that point, the Ladies did not relinquish their lead. McClure and Jensen Shurbert each had three kills in the set, while Lauren Kerr had three block assists.

In set three it was a four-point outburst from the Ladies that made all the difference. In succession, kills from Katie Goulder, Kerr and then two from freshman Delaney Swanson pushed Kenyon's 10-8 lead out to 14-8. In set four, a five-point swing that included two Lions' errors and three Kenyon kills provided enough room for the Ladies to pull away.

Overall, Swanson posted 19 kills in the four-set match with the Lions. McClure had 10 and Goulder chipped in with eight. McClure also racked up three blocks, while Kerr notched four.

In the second match of the day the Ladies and Scots traded 25-23 sets before Kenyon took complete control. In the third set, Swanson tacked on four more kills and the Ladies took advantage of early Maryville errors. McClure again laced a kill and followed up with a string of seven straight Kenyon points while she was serving. That staked Kenyon to 13-5 lead. Maryville scored once more and Kenyon responded with five more points, putting the set away.

Finally, in what turned out to be the deciding set, the Ladies opened with seven straight points. Four of those points came on kills from McClure and another two on kills from Kerr. Maryville narrowed the gap, but another six-point Kenyon run sealed the deal. During that run, Swanson had a kill and two service aces to lock things up for the Ladies.

On the day, Swanson had a team-best 30 kills while McClure dropped 22 kills and Goulder finished with 14. McClure and Goulder also turned in respective attack percentages of .309 and .323. Shurbert recorded 66 assists and 19 digs. Goulder and Rachael Thorson also had 19 digs, while Swanson led the team with 30. Swanson also accounted for a team-high seven service aces.

Kenyon's 5-3 start to the season is its best since 2011, when the Ladies also started 5-3 through their first eight games.