CINCINNATI, Ohio – The Earlham College volleyball team split a pair of contests against Ohio Wesleyan and Illinois Wesleyan on Saturday morning at the Mount St. Joseph Tournament. 

Maria Young led the Quakers on the day with 16 kills. Erin Wagner combined for 48 assists in the two matches. 

GAME ONE: EARLHAM 3   Ohio Wesleyan 0   (25-20, 25-21, 25-21)

Young scored 10 kills in the first match of the day to lead the offense. Liv Kyrk and Aniyah Harrington both contributed points with seven kills each. 

The Quakers took an early lead in set one after an 8-2 run. EC then held a lead of at least three points for the remainder of the set to win 25-20. 

Earlham started slow in set two, but scored six straight points with serves from Young to take a 9-5 lead. A 6-1 run later in the set helped secure the Quaker lead as they held off a late rally to win 25-21.

The Quaker offense took off in set three with 18 total kills and a .317 combined hitting percentage. EC jumped ahead early 16-9 before the Bishops rallied back to 19-16. 


GAME TWO: EARLHAM 0   ILLINOIS WESLEYAN 3   (19-25, 20-25, 19-25)

The Earlham offense struggled to gain footing in the second match of the day. The Quakers scored just 21 kills as a team and hit at a .031 clip. 

Young led the EC hitters with six kills and a .115 percentage. Quaker libero Jen Shamel recorded 16 digs. 

After leading 11-10 in the first set, the Quakers allowed six straight points and could not recover the deficit. Earlham opened the second set with five straight points in what was their best set offensively. The Quakers trailed 21-7 in set three before scoring a 12-3 run down the stretch. 

Earlham will be back on the court for its home opener on Tuesday at 7 pm against Wittenebrg in Druley Performance Gym.