RICHMOND, Ind. – The Earlham College volleyball team improved to 5-4 on the season with a pair of wins on Friday to begin the Dr. Bill Brandes Memorial Tournament in Druley Performance Gym. 

MATCH ONE: Earlham 3 Denison 1 (25-23, 23-25, 25-20, 26-24)

Caylee Brandes led the Quakers offensively with 13 kills and two blocks. Addison Piatt and Anniyah Harrington posted 12 and 11 kills respectively. Charish Minor was efficient in the middle, scoring 10 kills with a .350 hitting percentage and two blocks. 

Ava Walters dished out a team-high 26 assists, while Sydney Bleyle tallied 16 assists and three service aces. Piatt led the back line with 24 digs, and libero Madison Bizjak collected 20. The pair also combined for six service aces in game one.

Tied at 15, Denison scored a 7-2 run to lead 22-17 in set one. The Quakers then responded with an 8-1 run, including three straight points to end it. The Big Red claimed set two after an 11-4 run while trailing late. Denison forced eight attack errors by the Quakers in the frame. 

The Quakers combined offense and defense in set three as they retook the lead. Earlham scored a match-high 14 kills, and kept Denison in check with six attack errors and a .146 hitting percentage. The Quakers matched their 14 kills in set four, and committed just three errors while serving up five aces for the win. The Quakers trailed 23-21, but rallied for a 5-1 run to win. 

MATCH TWO: Earlham 3 Kenyon 1 (25-14, 25-20, 28-26)

Brandes scored 14 kills in match two with just two errors for a .444 attack percentage. Piatt served up four aces and scored 11 kills with a .273 percentage. 

Bleyle led the setters in match two with 22 assists, and Emma Ledford tallied 10 assists and seven digs. Bizjak collected 22 digs. 

The Quaker defense held Kenyon to a 0.0 attack percentage in set one, forcing six errors. Meanwhile, Earlham scored 14 kills and swung at a .286 clip with four errors. Earlham held the Owls to a sub-.100 hitting percentage in set two while swinging for 15 kills and three errors for a .279 hitting percentage for the hosts. Set three saw back-and-forth action as Kenyon and Earlham posted 17 and 18 kills respectively. Earlham posted just four errors.  Tied at 23, Brandes scored a kill to start match point for Earlham, but the Owls came back with two straight points to force an extended set. Trailing 26-25, Earlham scored three straight kills to round out the day.

Earlham is slated to take on Alma College and Heidelberg University tomorrow in the tournament. Action begins at 11 am in Druley Performance Gym.