UNION, N.J. – Searching for back-to-back wins for the first time this season, the Kenyon College volleyball team got off to a great start Friday evening, posting a 25-18 win in its first set at Kean University. The host Cougars, however, came roaring back to win the match by posting set scores of 25-17, 25-21 and 25-15.
When Kenyon took the court, it chalked up 12 kills and just two errors for a .357 attack percentage in the first set. Senior
Mackenzie Bruzzio posted five of those kills without an error and classmate
Haley Witschey added three more, also with no errors.
The set was close early on, but the Ladies put together a huge 12-4 run to pull away. During the run, which started with Kenyon holding a 9-8 advantage, Witschey smashed three more kills, while
Maleah Miller tacked on a pair. The second of Miller's kills put Kenyon ahead 21-12. Bruzzio then pushed the Ladies to the finish line with two more kills of her own.
At the start of the season set, the Ladies then fell behind 7-1, but they didn't fade away. Bruzzio, Witschey and Miller powered a run that pulled the Ladies within one point, at 15-14 and then again at 16-15. Kean scored the next three and Kenyon called timeout, but the break didn't stop the Cougars' momentum. They scored six of the next eight points to seal the deal.
From there, Kenyon's attack ran out of gas. The Ladies tallied just 17 combined kills in the final two sets, while Kean piled up 27. Kean's tandem of Zoe Strozewski and Jesse Larkin put Kenyon away. Strozewski, who had 19 kills in the match, racked up eight of those in the final two sets. Meanwhile, Larkin added seven kills in the last two sets and finished the night with 10.
For Kenyon, Bruzzio and Witschey ended up with 15 and 11 kills, respectively.
Meghan Cason had 30 assists and
Katie Howard had 18 digs.
The win improved Kean to 16-7, while the loss dropped Kenyon to 4-13.
The Ladies move on to Montclair State University tomorrow to take on the host Red Hawks at 11 a.m. and then the Moravian College Greyhounds at 1 p.m.
