(WILMINGTON, Ohio) – The Wilmington College women's volleyball team dropped their first home match of the 2024 season to the visiting Kenyon College Owls in five sets. The Owls took the first set, before the Quakers roared back with two set wins of their own. Kenyon prevailed however and came away with a 3-2 victory. During the first set, Quakers senior Andie Dolven set the program record for career assists with 1,981. 

Wilmington jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the first set, led by a trio of kills from three different Quakers. The Owls got right back into the match though and held a 12-9 advantage, before a 7-3 run put the lead back in Wilmington's favor at 16-15. The run was highlighted by three Josie Crabtree kills and two Quakers aces. The set was tied 19-19, but Kenyon ended the set on a 6-2 flurry to take a 1-0 match lead.

Set two saw the Quakers trail 10-6 before a crazy 13-2 run put the set out of reach for the Owls and tied the match at 1-1. The run was fueled by four Crabtree kills and three aces.

The third set was the set of the night. Wilmington trailed 23-17 before storming all the way back to tie the set at 24-24. The flurry included two aces, a Crabtree kill, and an Emelia Mohler kill. The two teams traded points, as neither could find the match winner. Finally, after trailing 28-27, Wilmington used two kills and a ball handling error to win the set 30-28 and go ahead 2-1 in the match.

Set four was another great one that saw the Quakers trail big at 17-12. Much like the other sets, the Quakers didn't go down without a fight. They used two aces and two kills to push it to a two-point set at 19-17. The score would eventually be tied at 25-25, but a pair of Owls points doomed Wilmington and sent the match to a deciding fifth set.

The Quakers could never get their feet under them in the final set, as they fell behind 9-5 and couldn't claw their way back. They would drop the set 15-9 and the match 3-2.

Notables

• Senior Andie Dolven had 44 assists in the match, passing Amy McClelland's 1,980 career assists in the first set to become the new program record holder for career assists.
• Emelia Mohler hit .325 in the match and recorded 20 kills.
• Josie Crabtree had 17 kills and Sarah Brown added 10.
• Corissa Oeder had a career high 27 digs in the match.
• Dolven had 12 digs to record her first double double of the season.
• Oeder and Logan McQuillin both had four aces while Dolven added two.

What's Up Next
The Quakers travel to Bluffton University for the Sommer Center Spiketacular beginning on Friday afternoon at 3:00 P.M. against the host Bluffton University Beavers. They also play Penn State Behrend on Friday night at 7:00 P.M.