GAMBIER, Ohio – Playing their second home volleyball match of the season, the Kenyon College Ladies were a bit short-handed and had a difficult time getting in sync during a three-set loss to the Marietta College Pioneers on Wednesday night.

The Ladies were missing one starter because of an off-court obligation and, during the match, lost another starter to injury. The Pioneers (8-1) took full advantage on the front line and carved out a 25-21, 25-14, 27-25 non-conference win over the Ladies (2-6).

Marietta sophomore Alissa Ginther was the focal point of the Pioneers' attack. She piled up 14 kills with just one error for a .500 attack percentage. On the Kenyon side, it was freshman Macy Reimbold who stepped up. She recorded a dozen kills with just two errors for a .417 percentage.

The first set was a toss-up, with neither team moving ahead by more than three points until the end. There were six lead changes and nine tied scores. Following the last tied score, at 18-18, Marietta scored twice, once off a Kenyon error and once off a kill. Kenyon later pulled within one point, at 21-20 after a Reimbold kill, but the Pioneers closed out the set on a 4-1 run that included a pair of kills from Sam Ritenour, who ended the match with six.

Things then fell apart for Kenyon in the second set, especially on the attack. The Ladies had just six kills and those were paired with seven attack errors. Marietta rolled out to a lead of 10-3 and never looked back. The Ladies got as close as six points on three different occasions, but could get no closer.

To their credit, the Kenyon women fought back in set three, attempting to avoid the sweep. They held a lead for most of the closely-played set, but the Pioneers rallied late, avoided a set point from Kenyon and squeaked out the two-point win to bring an end to the match.  

In addition to Reimbold's 12 kills, the Ladies got another 12 from senior Mackenzie Bruzzio, who now leads the team with 87 kills on the season. Fellow senior Haley Witschey tacked on six kills, but no other Kenyon player had more than two. Reimbold also led the team in digs with 10, while Bruzzio and Katie Howard both had seven. Meghan Cason contributed a team-high 22 assists.

Kenyon has a week to regroup before its next game, which will be at Otterbein University next Wednesday.