SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – The Kenyon College volleyball team was held to a season-low 22 kills during Wednesday's road loss at Wittenberg University. The host Tigers, ranked as the No. 3 team in the nation, nearly doubled-up the Ladies with 43 kills en route to a 25-8, 25-12, 25-18 win.
The loss extended Kenyon's season-long losing streak to three matches and dropped the Ladies' records to 14-10 overall and 4-4 in the North Coast Athletic Conference. On the other side of the court, Wittenberg moved to 19-2 overall and a perfect 8-0 in NCAC action.
The win also solidified Wittenberg's 13th straight conference title and the Tigers will host the upcoming NCAC Tournament. Kenyon's 4-4 NCAC mark was good enough for fourth place in the standings and the Ladies earned a bye through the first round of tournament play. In the second round, they will face the winner of No. 5-seeded Ohio Wesleyan University and No. 8-seeded Oberlin College.
From the start Wednesday, the Tigers showed they were serious, racing out to first-set leads of 9-1 and 15-3. The Wittenberg team racked up 14 kills with just one error in the set, while the Ladies faltered with just four kills and seven errors.
Kenyon improved its play in the second set and kept up with the Tigers through the first 19 points. With the score 11-8 in favor of Wittenberg, the Tigers rattled off eight straight points to take control.
Delaney Swanson had three kills in the set for the Ladies, who totaled seven overall.
In the third set, the Ladies grabbed leads of 6-5 and 10-9. Wittenberg, however, closed things out with an 8-4 run that garnered the match.
Swanson finished with eight kills, yielding to
Haley Witschey, who posted a team-high nine kills. Libero
Katie Howard piled up 11 digs, while
Meghan Cason dished out 17 assists.
Wittenberg had eight players tally two or more kills. Haley Horner led the way with 10 and Katie Hiestand added nine. Taylor Yontz contributed 17 digs, while Sophia Easton chalked up 22 assists.
Before focusing on NCAC Tournament play, the Ladies will head to Defiance College on Saturday for a tri-match with the host Yellow Jackets and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.
