WOOSTER, Ohio – The Allegheny College volleyball team got back on track in North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) play this evening as the Gators traveled to Wooster and defeated the Fighting Scots in five sets.
Allegheny (11-6, 1-2 NCAC) and Wooster (11-5, 0-3 NCAC) traded sets, with the Gators taking the odd frames to earn the victory. The visitors hit .118 on the night and tallied 51 kills, while the Fighting Scots found the floor on 58 swings with a success rate of .106.
Senior outside hitter
Taylor Samuel and sophomore right side
Morgan Bush each registered double-digit kills for Allegheny, tallying 15 and 11, respectively. Samuel added a season-high 23 digs to collect her 11th double-double of the season, while added two block assists defensively.
Sophomore libero
Terra Schall, the nation's leader in digs per set, collected a match-high 36 on the night. It was her seventh match with at least 30 digs this season and ninth with 20 or more.
Schall and Samuel were two of five Gators with double-digit digs, joining freshman
Rachel Slotterback (17) and sophomores
Kylee Karczewski (13), and
Justine Kelly (10). Kelly also recorded a double-double, picking up her sixth of the season with 34 assists.
Bush connected on four of 10 swings with just one mishit in Allegheny's 25-17 victory in the opening frame. Middle hitters
Sarah Swartz and
Leah Franzluebbers as well as Kelly added three kills in the stanza.
Wooster answered with a 25-19 win in the second set, despite five kills from Samuel and four from her classmate
Julia Weeks.
Samuel continued her success from the previous frame in the middle stanza, tallying five more kills as the Gators took it 25-20. Bush found the floor three times in the frame, needing just four swings to contribute.
After forcing a deciding set with a 25-21 win in the fourth stanza, the Fighting Scots picked up the first point of the fifth frame. Allegheny responded with the next six however as Swartz collected a kill and chipped in on two blocks.
A timeout by Wooster seemed to turn the tides as the hosts answered with seven consecutive points to go up 8-6. The Gators stopped the bleeding with the next point, but the Fighting Scots kept their two-point edge at 10-8, forcing the visitors into a timeout.
Swartz connected again out of the break to cut the Wooster advantage to one, then Kelly found the floor to tie it up at 10 all. The Fighting Scots answered with a kill to regain the lead, but an error on the ensuing serve knotted it up once more.
An attack error gave Allegheny a lead it wouldn't relinquish at 12-11. Franzluebbers followed that up with a kill, then Wooster registered another attack error following a timeout. Slotterback would finish off the Fighting Scots with her second service ace of the night.
Allegheny returns home on Saturday, Oct. 3 to host Ohio Wesleyan in NCAC action. The Gators will be recognizing the careers of their three seniors –
Taylor Samuel,
Sarah Swartz, and
Julia Weeks – prior to the match.
