WILMINGTON, Ohio – For just the second time since 1989 the Kenyon College volleyball team won four of its first five matches. Tuesday, the 2016 Ladies accomplished that feat rather easily, defeating the host Wilmington College Quakers in a 25-15, 25-15, 25-16 non-conference contest.

A total of 15 Ladies logged playing time in at least one set. Three different Kenyon players tallied four aces each and nine recorded at least one kill. Sophomore Schuyler Stupica led the way in the kills department with nine, while freshman Maleah Miller smashed seven without an error. Sophomores Alexi Donnelly and Delaney Swanson each chipped in with four kills. Donnelly also had four aces, as did Jensen Shurbert and Ashley Martens.

The Ladies got off to a bit of a sluggish start and fell behind Wilmington 5-2 in the first set. Kills from Stupica and Miller got the team back on track and the Kenyon women put together a string of five straight points. That was followed shortly thereafter by nine straight points and the Ladies surged to a commanding 17-9 advantage before chalking up the set-one win.

Set two was similar, as the Quakers jumped out to early leads of 9-6 and 11-8. With Shurbert serving, Kenyon then erupted for ten consecutive points to take an 18-11 lead. During that streak, Shurbert drilled three aces, Stupica had a couple of kills and the Quakers helped out with a trio of attack errors.

In the third set, the Quakers hung around a little bit longer before the Ladies put them away. With Wilmington holding a 16-14 lead, Kenyon scored a point off a Donnelly kill and then subbed in Martens, who promptly served up an ace. Wilmington called timeout and returned to the court only to commit two more attack errors.

After another Wilmington timeout, Martens served out the match, concluding an 11-0 Kenyon run that clinched victory. During that final stretch, Martens recorded all four of her aces, Donnelly notched two kills and the Quakers (0-2) handed over four more points on attack errors.

As a team, Kenyon chalked up a .267 attack percentage (34 kills, 14 errors). Wilmington gave itself no chance, producing a -.027 percentage (19 kills, 21 errors).

In addition to the impressive kill and ace totals for the Ladies, Shurbert added 21 assists and six digs to her stat line. Donnelly piled up a team-high ten digs and Miller tacked on two blocks.

The busy early-season schedule will continue Friday for Kenyon (4-1) as it heads to Bluffton University for the Sommer Center Spiketacular. The Ladies will play two matches Friday starting at 4 p.m. and then two more matches Saturday starting at noon.