OBERLIN, Ohio – After trading the first four sets on Friday night, the Kenyon College volleyball team was able to fight its way back to a 15-12 win in the fifth and final set to claim victory over the Oberlin College Yeowomen. The victory starts the Ladies off with a 1-0 mark in North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) play.

The Ladies held a 2-1 advantage after three sets, but Oberlin changed the momentum, took the fourth set and put itself in position for victory with early fifth set leads of 7-4 and 9-5.

Six points from defeat, the Ladies turned it back on and rallied for four straight points, which included kills from Mackenzie Bruzzio and Maleah Miller. That tied the deciding set at 9-9, but Oberlin withstood the Kenyon push and collected the next two points on attack errors by the Ladies.

Oberlin then committed its own error and Kenyon sophomore Alexi Donnelly stepped up to serve. Trailing 11-10, the Ladies put the pressure back on the Yeowomen, who yielded three consecutive points on errors. Jensen Shurbert's kill extended the Kenyon lead to 14-11 and, after Oberlin regained serve, the match ended on a service error.

The first three sets saw no ties or lead changes for the winning side. Kenyon came out on top of sets one and three by counts of 25-17 and 25-14, respectively. Meanwhile, Oberlin took the second set, 25-20, and the fourth set by the same score. Contrary to the first three sets of action, the fourth set saw ten ties and six lead changes throughout play.

Shurbert led the Ladies with 35 assists and 17 digs. On the attack, Delaney Swanson put down a team-high 13 kills, while Alexi Donnelly and Schuyler Stupica both added nine to the Ladies' total. Ashley Martens and Donnelly both had 14 digs and Bruzzio finished with six kills and five block assists.

The Ladies will be back in action tomorrow as they continue NCAC play at home against rival Denison University. The match is scheduled for a 2:30 PM start at Tomsich Arena.