WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Kenyon Ladies volleyball team opened its season at the Otterbein University Tournament Friday afternoon and came away with a five-set victory over Capital University before falling in three to Case Western Reserve University. The season-opening win over the Crusaders marked the first time since 2011 that Kenyon won its first match of the season.
 
MATCH ONE
 
Freshman Delaney Swanson totaled 22 kills in the Ladies' victory over the Crusaders in the opening match. That mark was the most by a Kenyon player since Patrice Collins collected 23 against Bluffton University Sept. 17, 2005. Swanson also added 16 digs and two service aces.
 
Kenyon opened set one in dominating fashion winning 25-11.
 
The Crusaders responded though to tie the match in the second set as they hit .344 as a team and won 29-27.
 
Set three went much like the opening stanza for Kenyon as they claimed a 25-15 victory and moved closer to victory. However, in the fourth set, Capital once again rallied to fight off defeat and won 25-15.
 
In the fifth and final set, Kenyon battled through and won by a narrow 15-13 margin which in turn gave them a season-opening victory for the first time in four years.
 
Another freshman, Schuyler Stupica added nine kills, while Alexi Donnelly and Tierney McClure chipped in with eight kills apiece.
 
MATCH TWO
 
Case Western turned out to be too much for the Ladies in the second match of the day. The Spartans won in three sets by scores of 25-19, 25-8 and 25-16.
 
In set one, the Ladies aided the Spartans with back-to-back attack errors which pushed CWRU's lead to 14-6. The closest Kenyon got the rest of the way was within five after a block from Lauren Kerr and Swanson.
 
The Spartans had complete control in the second set as it raced out to an 8-1 lead. They never looked back as they hit a blistering .417 as a team.
 
Set three was tight early on as a Case Western attack error brought the score to 8-6. But after that, the Spartans went on a 4-1 run and got kills from Haley Kauffman and Danielle Witri to push their lead to 12-7. Kenyon didn't get within five points the rest of the way.
 
Swanson led the Ladies with nine kills while Rachael Thorson added a team-high 10 digs. Jensen Shurbert handed out a team-best 18 assists.
 
Next up for Kenyon is two more matches tomorrow against Otterbein at 10 a.m. followed by a 12:30 p.m. date with Berea College (KY).