ADA, Ohio – The Kenyon College volleyball team made the trip to Ohio Northern University on Tuesday night and surprised the host Polar Bears by winning the first set. The Ladies, however, could not maintain momentum. They dropped the final three sets and watched their three-match win streak come to a halt.

Ohio Northern, ranked just outside the Top 25 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association poll, improved its record to 9-4 by rallying for the 22-25, 25-14, 25-18, 25-12 non-conference win at the ONU Sports Center.

The Ladies (6-4) caught fire late in that first set to upend the favored hosts. Trailing 18-13, the Ladies inched closer with a kill from sophomore Tierney McClure, a block from Delaney Swanson and Schuyler Stupica, as well as a pair of attack errors from Ohio Northern. McClure kept the heat on with another kill and a service ace that pulled the Ladies within one point at 20-19.

The teams traded a couple points and then Kenyon freshman Alexi Donnelly nearly single-handedly closed out the set. Kenyon scored four straight points to win it and three of those points were registered on Donnelly kills. Donnelly ended up with five kills in the set and McClure pitched in with four. Together, their nine kills came on 20 attempts with just one error as the Ladies hit .389 as a team.

Those numbers didn't last, though. The match-one result only angered the Bears, who stormed back with a vengeance. Kenyon did not hit over. 100 for the rest of the match. Ohio Northern rolled to leads of 7-1 and 8-2 in the second set. Later, a 7-0 run fueled by ONU's Ashley Borchers and Haley Potters put the Ladies away. Borchers, Potters and Kaitlann Hogrefe combined for 13 kills without an error in that second set.

Kenyon played the third set much closer, but the Polar Bears used a late 8-2 run to break open an 18-16 match and moved ahead, two sets to one.

Attack errors caught up with Kenyon in the fourth and final set. While Ohio Northern did not commit a single error, the Ladies coughed up eight and gave the Polar Bears plenty of opportunities to run away with the win.

McClure ended up leading Kenyon in kills (12) and digs (13). Swanson also had 13 digs to go along with nine kills, while Jensen Shurbert matched that same dig total and handed out 31 assists. Stupica and Donnelly finished with eight and nine kills, respectively. Both Swanson and Lauren Kerr added three blocks apiece.

Potters and Hogrefe were the match leaders for the Polar Bears. Potters rang up 16 kills and Hogrefe finished with 15.