(WILMINGTON, Ohio) – Career performances from Mackenzie Simpson, Addison Sparks and Emma Specht powered the Wilmington Quakers to a 3-1 victory over the Capital Comets Wednesday evening at Hermann Court. The victory marked Wilmington's first Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) win of the season and its ninth overall, improving the Quakers to 9-8 through 17 matches. With the win, Wilmington moved within one victory of its first double-digit-win campaign since 2011.
Wilmington opened the first set with a 10-8 lead before the visiting Comets countered with a 10-5 scoring run to take an 18-15 advantage. The Quakers responded with three consecutive points to tie the set at 18-18, but Capital closed the frame on a 7-3 run to claim the opener, 25-21.
In the second set, Wilmington came out firing, building a 10-4 advantage behind kills from Sparks, Simpson, Specht, Emelia Mohler and Lilly Fite. The Quakers extended their lead to a set-high eight points at 15-7 following a Capital attack error. Although the Comets trimmed the deficit to four, Wilmington maintained control down the stretch to even the match with a 25-19 victory.
Trailing 8-7 early in the third set, the Green and White, fueled by two kills apiece from Sparks, Simpson and Mohler, surged ahead with an 11-4 scoring run. Capital battled back to cut Wilmington's lead to 19-17, but the Quakers responded by scoring six of the final seven points. Sparks delivered back-to-back kills to close out the 25-18 victory and give Wilmington a 2-1 advantage in the match.
The Quakers faced another early deficit in the fourth set, trailing 11-7 before mounting an 11-2 scoring run highlighted by a pair of kills from Magee Fain. The surge gave Wilmington both an 18-13 advantage and a lead it would not relinquish. Capital made one final push, using a late 5-1 run to pull within one point at 24-23. However, Simpson delivered the decisive blow, tooling the Comets' block for the match-winning kill to secure Wilmington's first OAC victory of the 2026 campaign.
Notables
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Wilmington attacked at an efficient .316 clip in the second set and .324 in the third while limiting Capital to .056 and .114, respectively.
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Mackenzie Simpson recorded a season-high and team-high 14 kills in the victory, surpassing her previous high of 12 against Elmira on Sept. 12. She also added three total blocks.
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Addison Sparks delivered a career-high 13 kills, surpassing her previous best of nine against Alma on Sept. 5, 2025.
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Emma Specht set a career high with a team-high 22 assists. The senior from Chillicothe, Ohio, has now recorded three matches with at least 20 assists and 13 matches with double-digit assists this season. Specht also tallied 10 digs for her third double-double of the season and established another career high with four service aces.
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Logan McQuillin recorded her 13th double-digit-dig performance of the season, finishing with a team-high 22 digs.
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Mia Spence registered her second double-digit-dig performance of the season with 10.
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Wilmington earned its first OAC victory since Oct. 23, 2024, when the Quakers defeated Capital by an identical 3-1 score.
What's Up Next
Wilmington hosts Baldwin Wallace at noon Saturday, Oct. 17, at Hermann Court.
The match will stream on FloSports, with live stats available at wilmingtonquakers.com
