Box vs. Earlham l Box vs. Manchester

Sept. 27 - One day after facing nationally ranked Wittenberg, the Yeowomen Volleyball team jumped all over Earlham College and swept the Quakers in Indiana by the score of 25-18, 26-24, and 25-15. The win marked the first time since September 20, 2003 that Oberlin has defeated Earlham in volleyball.

Head coach Carey Cavanaugh said, “This is a great win for our team, we executed better today, and just seemed to get everyone together firing on all cylinders.”

In the straight set victory the Yeowomen seemed to play as if they were locked into their kill zone. Sophomore Maggie Jacobson led Oberlin in hitting at .368, while first-year Sara Blankemeyer (.313) and sophomore Anna Frackman (.292) were close behind in hitting efficiency.

The win was a huge confidence builder for a young team playing without junior libero Tammela Platt. Not only did the win even Oberlin's conference record at 2-2, but with conference sweeps of Kenyon and Earlham in successive weeks, the Yeowomen look very competitive as they enter the meat of their conference season.

In the second match of the Hoosier state doubleheader the Yeowomen took Manchester down to the wire but came up just short in five games. After winning the first game 26-24 and the third game 25-21, the Yeowomen were unable to close out the Spartans as they finished behind 25-20 and 15-11.

Anna Frackman was the leading hitter against Manchester as she missed only six times in 51 attempts and put balls away at a .373 clip. Coach Cavanaugh exclaimed, “The story of the day really was the dominant performance of our middles. They put balls away when needed and consistently drew blockers that opened up alleys for our outside hitters.” She went on to say, “I am really proud of our effort and teamwork in both matches as everyone really brought their game today. If we keep playing like this, some of those five setters are going to start going our way…while the middles stood out in both matches Rita [Kaplon] has really become a terrific leader for us and that leadership helped us win today.”

Despite the disappointing loss to Manchester things are looking up for the Yeowomen. They are 3-3 in their last six matches, including 2-2 in conference, but all three victories were sweeps and two of the defeats were in five sets. This young team is just a few points away from having won 5 of their last 6 matches, which certainly bodes well for the future.

For now, Oberlin will look to continue their strong team play this week as they have two more NCAC foes on the schedule. They will be in action next when they travel to Wooster College on Wednesday October 1, 2008 at 7:00 pm.