Sophomore
Caitlin Walsh-Knouff led the way with 25 kills for The College of Wooster volleyball team in its North Coast Athletic Conference opener against Kenyon College on Saturday.
After losing the first set, the Scots came back to win in four, 19-25, 25-22, 25-23, 26-24.
Walsh-Knouff's 25 kills was not only a career-high but fell one shy of tying the program record for kills in four sets. Walsh Knouff has now put together double-digit kills in the last four matches.
Elsewhere, classmate
Kennedy Muhlenkamp aided in the effort with 45 assists. She needed five more to reach the top five in program history for assists in four sets.
Jordan Laraway and
Claire Buchholz each added seven kills. Buchholz also led the team with 21 digs, while
Catherine Muzilla added 19.
Kenyon (5-10, 0-1 NCAC) had a pair in double figures in kills with behind
Oliva Gumz (16) and
Abby Stenger (14).
Hannah Schwemm had 39 assists, and
Arianna Flota collected 20 digs for team-highs.
Kenyon broke away for its lone set win after a six-point streak broke a 9-9 tie to start the game. They rode that lead to a 25-19 first set win.
Wooster (4-7, 1-0 NCAC) bounced back in a similar fashion in set two, breaking an 8-8 stalemate to a decisive 17-10 lead. Wooster led 24-17 until a late rally but capitalized on a final attack error to take the set.
The final two sets were tight with back-and-forth runs throughout. In the third, Wooster broke a 22-22 tie with two straight points before wrapping the set with a Walsh-Knouff kill.
In the fourth, Wooster had a pair of cracks at match point, but Kenyon would not go down without a fight. Kenyon led 22-21 before Wooster got three straight points, including two kills from Walsh-Knouff to give them a 24-22 lead.
Kenyon then scored twice to make it 24-all before kills from Walsh-Knouff and Laraway put the match away.
The third set had 16 ties and seven lead changes, while the final set featured 10 ties and three lead changes.
Next, the Scots will host Kent State University at Tuscarawas for a non-conference matchup on Monday.
