Kentucky Wesleyan grabbed their second consecutive win with a victory over Ohio Valley in five sets (25-14, 22-25, 25-18, 22-25, 15-8) on Saturday afternoon at Jones Gymnasium. The Panthers improve their record on the year to 9-17 (3-6 G-MAC).
In the first set, Kentucky Wesleyan came out and took care of business early on. The Panthers built a comfortable lead and added on to it, as they rolled to an easy 25-14 first set win. The second set was a different story. Ohio Valley came out and began to control the set. Kentucky Wesleyan had trouble winning points at the net, and the Fighting Scots were able to muster up a 25-22 second set victory.
In the third set, Kentucky Wesleyan got back to playing their game. The Panthers got out to an early 9-7, and never trailed from then on in the set. Kentucky Wesleyan would hold on to a fairly comfortable set win at 25-18.
The fourth set provided more drama. Kentucky Wesleyan looked like they were going to finish off the Fighting Scots, after taking a 20-16 lead. However, Ohio Valley would fight right back into the set after winning five consecutive points. The Fighting Scots continued with their momentum, and held on to win the fourth set 25-22.
In the final fifth set, Kentucky Wesleyan refused to lose. The Panthers answered quickly with a 5-1 advantage and had Ohio Valley on the ropes. That lead would continue to increase to 13-4.
Autumn Harris provided the game-winning kill to win the set and clinch the match at 15-8.
Kentucky Wesleyan was led by
Nikki Jenkins, who registered 21 kills in the match.
Autumn Harris collected 13 kills too. Four Panthers finished with double figures in the digs category.
Gabrielle Gallois,
Jordan King, and
Elizabeth Zuber were all just shy of 10 kills. Jenkins had 10,
Nicole Venema tallied 13,
Emily Yocom logged 12, and
Sarah Swenson tabbed 11. Swenson also snatched 50 assists. Kentucky Wesleyan won 27 points on either solo blocks, or block assists.
The Panthers next match will be an out of conference match against Missouri-St. Louis on Sunday at home at 2 p.m.
