RICHMOND, Ind. – The Wilmington College volleyball team closed out the 2018 Quaker Classic by splitting a pair of matches, defeating Boyce College 3-2 (25-10, 12-25, 25-11, 27-29, 15-11) and falling to Crowley’s Ridge College 3-1 (20-25, 25-22, 25-23, 26-24) Saturday at Earlham College.
Wilmington featured mainly a three-headed attack as Mariella Szrom, Jillian Wesco and Taylor McCuistion tallied 29 of the Quakers’ 33 kills. Szrom led the way with 11 kills. Setter Jacie Koontz dished out 19 assists while libero Karley Schlensker had 34 digs to go along with Wesco’s 25.
“Boyce did a great job of throwing different looks at us,” WC head coach Tim O’Brien said. “In the end, I thought we were able to make the correct adjustments and win the match.”
As a team, Wilmington finished with 7.5 blocks while Boyce had five.
In the loss to Crowley’s Ridge, Wescoe proved to be the to go-to offensive threat as the sophomore finished with 16 kills on 39 attempts. Amber Rox also turned her best offensive match of the season, tallying 10 kills on 38 attempts.
Grace Ewing dished out 22 assists while Schlensker had 40 digs. McCuistion led the defense effort in the front row with a solo block and a block assist.
“We started quickly in the second match after coming off our first victory of the season,”said O’Brien. “The next three sets could have gone either way as both teams hung with each other point for point.”
Wilmington (1-6) hosts Mount St. Joseph University in a non-conference match Tuesday. First serve from Hermann Court is slated for 7 p.m.
On Friday, WC dropped a four-set match to Earlham College in the Quaker Bowl rivalry, falling 25-6, 20-25, 25-14, 25-9. In the second match, Indiana University-Southeast defeated the Fightin’ Quakers 3-0 (25-12, 25-18, 25-17).
Wesco led Wilmington offensively with 10 kills while McCuistion had four. Alyssa McKenzie dished out nine assists and Schlensker had 14 digs.
In the loss to IU-Southeast, Karrah Wind led Wilmington with eight kills on 22 attack attempts with just one error (.318 attack percentage). Meghan Koch added three kills on seven swings. Koontz dished out 11 assists while Schlensker had a season-high 20 digs.
