ADA, Ohio – The Earlham COllege volleyball team began the 2022 ONU Invitational with a 3-1 loss to Ohio Northern University on Friday evening. 

The Quakers fell to 4-6 on the season. 

Maria Young led the offense with 15 kills and a .324 hitting percentage. The junior was instrumental in the second-set win for Earlham with five kills and no errors in the frame. Young also had 15 digs and a team-high two serving aces. 

Freshman Aniyah Harrington also reached double-digit kills with 11, while also sporting a .219 percentage. Erin Wagner recorded 40 out of 45 total assists for the Quakers on the evening. Liv Kyrk was a force on the front line with six total blocks and no blocking errors. 

The Quaker offense struggled to gain traction in the first set. As a team, Earlham reached just seven kills and accounted for six attack errors. The visitors were outscored 15-4 through the second half of the set. 

Earlham found much more control in the second set, as Young and Harrington combined for nine kills, one block and one assist with just one error. The momentum was felt along the whole lineup as Earlham hit at a .343 clip during the set with 17 total kills. The pair got rolling early with a 6-0 run for the Quakers to establish the set. 

While the Quakers hit well in set three, they fell just short of the Polar Bears. After trailing 17-12, EC rallied off an 11-2 run with five kills from the visiting squad. Now trailing 22-19, Ohio Northern regrouped and scored six straight points to get out of the set with a win. 

The Quakers slumped in set four while the Polar Bears boomed. EC hit at a .167 clip with nine kills and three errors on offense while ONU put up 19 kills with only three errors. While trailing 6-4, ONU scored a 9-1 run. The tournament hosts then backed it up with a run of 10-2 to end the set and the match. 

The Quakers will continue the ONU Classic tomorrow against Muskingum University and Heidelberg University. The first match is set for 12:30 pm while Earlham takes on the Berg at 3:00 pm.