Thirty-five aces served by The College of Wooster volleyball team were the difference in Saturday's sweep of Hood College in Maryland. Wooster took match one of the rare doubleheader 25-20, 25-21, 22-25, 21-25, 15-12, then rallied back for the sweep, 25-17, 23-25, 23-25, 25-18, 15-6.

A season-high 18 aces came in the opener, with that ranking as the fifth-most in the current scoring era and top total since the program fired off a record 21 in a 2025 match against Worcester State University. Individually, first-year Claire Buchholz's eight were one shy of the individual record, last matched by program great Hayley Nash against Saint Mary's College Indiana in 2022.

Sophomore Kennedy Muhlenkamp gave Wooster the 13-10 lead in the fifth with ace 18 of the match, while Buchholz made it 10-4 with her eighth individually. The fourth set is where Buchholz did half the damage, serving consecutive aces early in the frame, then two at the midpoint as part of a 4-0 run that had Wooster up 14-9.

Earlier, Wooster opened with seven of its aces in the first. Three more came in the second set, including two with senior Jordan Laraway at the service line during what turned into a set-closing 4-0 Wooster run after Hood rallied to tie the frame at 21.

Laraway and Muhlenkamp combined for nine of the 10 non-Buchholz aces in the first Hood match. Muhlenkamp passed out a team-leading 33 assists and was one of three Scots to hit double-digits in digs at 15. She matched the five aces in the kills column.

Sophomores Ireland Oswick and Caitlin Walsh-Knouff had nine kills each in match one. Senior Kora Burill and junior MC Werth were right behind with eight kills. Junior Catherine Muzilla's 17 digs were tops on the team.

Tara Gosney finished 13 attacks and Cam Madden was right behind with 12 kills in the opener. Madden posted a double-double with 12 digs. Maria Ricketts led Hood's defense with 14 digs to go with her team-high 20 assists.

Muhlenkamp upped the Saturday ace counter to 12 in the nightcap, posting seven to lead Wooster. Her seven are tied for the sixth-most in a match in program history for the current scoring era. First-year Lillian Beasley followed with four, and Laraway was the other Scot with at least three. Wooster's 17 aces tie for the seventh-most in the 25-point rally format, which started in 2008.

Wooster closed out Saturday's sweep with Beasley at the service line, and that is when she logged three of the four aces. Wooster's lead was cut to 9-6 before the Scots closed with a 6-0 run that also saw Walsh-Knouff put away two kills.

Muhlenkamp was the headliner of Wooster's fourth-set rally with four aces, three kills, and three assists in the frame. Simply put, she either directly accounted for or impacted 10 of the 13 points that did not end with a Hood error.

Werth's 10 kills led Wooster in the nightcap and she hit .308 for the match. Muzilla totaled 17 digs again and Wooster finished with 48 kills on both ends of the doubleheader. Muhlenkamp passed out 34 assists to go with the seven aces.

Brynn Cochran had 14 kills and 14 digs to lead Hood in the Saturday finale.

Wooster is now 9-10 on the year. Hood fell to 2-17.

Next, Wooster (1-2 North Coast Athletic Conference) hosts Ohio Wesleyan University (11-8, 3-0 NCAC) at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, October 21.