SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – The Ladies volleyball team picked up a 3-0 victory against Oberlin College in the opening round before falling to Denison University in the quarterfinals of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament on Friday. With the split, Kenyon closed its 2017 season with a 15-11 mark, its third straight winning campaign.
 
Against the Yeowomen, the Ladies turned in a good defensive performance limiting the eighth-seeded team to a 0.79 attack percentage while collecting 72 digs.
 
A slim 11-9 lead in the opening set was blown up with an 8-2 run by the Ladies to take control. Delaney Swanson started the stretch with a kill and ended it with an ace. Oberlin added five errors in that run as Kenyon later notched a 25-17 win.
 
In the second, Rachael Thorson's ace gave the fifth-seeded Ladies a 7-2 lead before Oberlin pulled a little closer. An error from Kenyon brought the count to 11-9, and later, a kill from Lexi Mitchell and another error got the Yeowomen within four, 17-13. However, like the first set, Kenyon found another big run. This one ran an 8-3 stretch for the Ladies. Ashley Martens tallied two aces while Alexi Donnelly collected three kills.
 
Kenyon wrapped up the match in the third. The Ladies were down 15-14 after an ace from Claudia Scott but Kenyon responded with an 11-3 run to seal the deal. Mackenzie Bruzzio registered a team-high four kills while Swanson added nine digs in the stanza.
 
In the nightcap versus Denison, the Ladies fell in another close match against the Big Red. The quarterfinal matchup saw Denison win in four sets by scores of 25-23, 21-25, 25-23 and 26-24 in the fourth. Earlier this season, Denison earned a five-set win against the Ladies.
 
Bruzzio was lights-out totaling a match-high 19 kills and team-high 25 digs. Swanson added a double-double with 14 kills and 24 digs while Thorson tallied 24 digs. Additionally, Jensen Shurbert dished out a match-high 41 assists.
 
The opening set saw a trio of ties and two lead changes with neither team holding a lead greater than four points. The Ladies were up 8-5 after a Denison error before things got knotted up at 10 following a Kenyon miscue. Katie Aucamp followed from there with a trio of kills to help put the Big Red up 14-10. Kenyon stayed close and nearly tied the match after points from Bruzzio and Maleah Miller (24-23), but Isabella Pivec's kill ended the first.
 
Action in the second was even closer. There were 10 ties and six lead changes before the Ladies prevailed 25-21. Leading 19-18, Miller helped the Ladies with two kills while Swanson and Shurbert added two more.
 
Nothing much changed in the third. Bruzzio's kill gave Kenyon an early 4-1 lead but the Big Red followed with five straight points including two kills from Emma Woerner. Denison got up as many as six points (11-5) before Kenyon battled back. Two kills by Bruzzio and another by Schuyler Stupica helped the Ladies tie the set at 16. Later, the Ladies rallied from four down to tie the set again 23-23 after a Bruzzio ace. The Big Red didn't allow the Ladies to get back in front, though, as Pivec and Kaila Kasper notched two points to end the third.
 
In the fourth, competition was even tighter. A total of 12 ties and six lead changes occurred as Denison won 26-24. The point margin was never greater than four (8-4, Ladies) as the final set came right down to the wire. Bruzzio's kill inched the Ladies to a 22-21 lead, but Denison responded with three points to go up 24-22 after a Leah Reinfranck point. The Ladies fought off the next two match points after an error and Swanson kill to tie the set at 24. After that though, the Big Red claimed victory with a kill by Reinfranck and a Ladies error.