Pepper Pike, Ohio – The Kentucky Wesleyan volleyball team fell 23-25, 25-17, 25-22, 22-25, 15-17 to the Ursuline Arrows in what was a five-set thriller on Saturday afternoon.
Wesleyan is now 0-23 overall and 0-12 in the G-MAC this season, while Ursuline improved to 3-24 overall and 3-11 in the G-MAC.
KWC still leads the all-time series 8-6, having won the last two matches between the two programs before the loss on Saturday.
The first set was all tied up at 21-21 after Julia Kupper connected with Hadley Wolfe for a kill. Ursuline then recorded four of the next six points to take the set 25-23.
In the second set, the Panthers closed with a 13-6 run capped off by a Havanah John kill to tie the match up at 1-1 with the 25-17 set victory.
The third set was another thriller, with the two teams knotted up at 18-18 before Wesleyan closed on another run, this time a 7-4 burst finalized by a Tessa-Jo Allen kill to put the road team up 2-1 with the 25-22 triumph.
The Panthers never led in the fourth set, as Ursuline controlled it wire-to-wire and prevailed 25-22 to send the match to a deciding 5th set.
Wesleyan found themselves down 14-9 in the final set but managed to score the next five points to stave off defeat. Unfortunately, with the set later tied 15-15, the Arrows tallied the next two points to steal the victory in Pepper Pike.
Grace Carter recorded a career-high 16 kills to lead the way for the Panthers. Kupper notched two career-highs as well with 44 assists and 22 digs.
After setting her career-high with seven blocks yesterday, Gracie Newton broke that number today with nine blocks at the net. John also had nine blocks, totaling her own career-best.
The Panthers finish a string of three consecutive games against Ashland tomorrow afternoon. First serve is set for 1 PM in Ashland, Ohio.
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