Springfield, Ohio – The Oberlin College volleyball team had its season come to an end on Friday afternoon as the eighth-seeded Yeowomen fell to No. 5 Ohio Wesleyan in the opening round of the NCAC Tournament. The Bishops got past the Yeowomen 25-22, 25-20, and 25-12.
Playing in her final match with the Yeowomen,
Lexi Mitchell finished with 14 kills on 31 swings to hit .258 in the loss. The junior 3-2, engineering major also dropped in three aces to accompany her six digs.
Rookie
Emery Beacom added eight kills and two total blocks from the middle, while
Jaya Flynn-Young made the most of her chances with a .364 success rate with five kills on 11 attempts with just one error.
Samantha Lam dished out 18 assists, while senior
Sara Chang added 11 helpers in her final match. Classmate
Emily Kelkar added 13 digs to bring her total to 1,180. Chang, who split time as a setter and hitter throughout her career finished 1,039 assists and 476 kills.
In the opening set, a 7-2 Yeowomen run that featured two kills and two aces from Mitchell erased a 10-8 deficit and put Oberlin out in front 15-12. Oberlin was later leading 17-13, but the Bishops came charging back with an 8-2 response of their own to claim a 21-19 advantage and force an Oberlin timeout. The Yeowomen battled back to tie it at 22, but the Bishops finished the game with three straight points to claim the early lead.
It was tied 7-7 early in game two but the Bishops would build a 13-10 margin at the midway point. Oberlin would fight its way back to square the set at 18 but the Bishops would push the cushion back out to three on consecutive Oberlin miscues before going on to earn the five-point victory.
Hoping to extend the match with a third-set victory, Oberlin was within striking distance at 15-12 halfway through, but the Bishops would close out the victory by scoring the next 10 points.
Oberlin ends the season at 8-15 overall. The Bishops will move on in the tournament to take on No. 4 Kenyon tonight at 7 p.m.
The Yeowomen will begin their preparations for the 2019 season during the non-traditional spring season.
