TIFFIN, Ohio -- The Kenyon College Owls took their first win of the year off of the Adrian College Bulldogs in a four set match. A 3-0 loss against Baldwin-Wallace University concludes the final match of a four in a two day stretch at the Great Lakes Crossover hosted by Heidelberg University
In match one the Owls picked up the first set 25-21 before falling in the second set by a score of 25-16. The rest of the match went the right way for the Owls as they picked up two thrilling sets by scores of 26-24 and 25-20. The match would conclude after four sets notching the first victory of a young coaching career for Macey Zinser.Â
Offensively the Owls relied mainly on two main sources in their match against the Bulldogs. Olivia Gumz was the first name of note picking up a total of 22 kills, her most this season in a four set match. Gumz led the way hitting .400 against Adrian, followed closely by Abby Stenger who picked up a career high 17 kills on 45 swings. Sophia Menke was incredibly efficient in the middle for the Owls knocking down eight kills while maintaining a hitting percentage of .467 on 15 attempts.Â
Defensively, the Owls remained strong as Hannah Schwemm picked up 14 digs, while Olivia Gumz secured 13 of her own. First-year Alex Lay added 1.5 total blocks along with Sophia Menke who added 2.5 to her tally. Serving, Gumz, Ariana Flota and Annie Sjolander added six total service aces with two apiece.Â
Match two for the Owls did not progress quite to plan, however, there were still many highlights to be noted. Olivia Gumz continued to find kills, picking up nine totaling 31 on the day. In the young season, Gumz stands atop the NCAC with a total of 67 kills, leading the next closest non-teammate by 20 kills. Underclassmen Abby Stenger and Kendall Kirkbride added nine more kills combined for the Gambier squad.Â
Hannah Schwemm added to her earlier success picking up several digs while adding 11 assists and providing a perfect reception record. First-year Arianna Flota was active throughout the match finding five digs for the Owls. Naomi Polanski picked up her first service ace of the season of a total of four from her team in the match.Â
Kenyon volleyball's next match takes place at Wilmington College at 7:00 PM on Wednesday, September 9th.Â
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