Steubenville, Ohio — The Oberlin college volleyball team won two non-conference matches at the Franciscan University Dig Pink Day Saturday afternoon to even its record at 3-3 on the year.

Franciscan Match

In the opening game of the day, the Yeowomen trailed 12-13 to the host Barons but a Lexi Mitchell kill off a feed by Samantha Lam sparked a 7-1 Oberlin run that blew the game open. Following the spurt, Oberlin held Franciscan to just four points the rest of the set which led to a 25-18 win in game one. 

Oberlin kept its foot on the pedal in the second set as they led by as many as 12 points. Sara Chang and Mitchell led the way with four kills a piece in the 25-13 route. 

The Yeowomen jumped out to a 19-0 lead in the decisive third set and went on to win by its biggest margin of the season, 25-6. 

Oberlin finished with a hitting percentage of .301 as they converted on 34 of its 73 attempts in the match. Chang, Mitchell and Natasha Radic led the team with seven kills each.  Lam and Chang kept the offense moving, as Lam finished with 12 assists and Chang contributed nine. 

At the net, the Oberlin defense dominated as they out blocked the Barons 6-0. Jaya Flynn-Young was a part of four of the blocks and Mitchell stopped three. In the back Maura Gibbs led the way with 12 digs. 

La Roche Match

In the opening set, Oberlin and La Roche were locked in a 15-15 tie but the Yeowomen won 10 of the last 15 points to take a 1-0 lead. Lexi Mitchell highlighted game one with four kills. 

A Natasha Radic kill broke a 10-10 tie in game two and kickstarted a 14-7 Oberlin run that was capped off by a Radic and Sara Chang block. The Redhawks made a short run to get within five late, but Mitchell's spike hit the hardwood to end the La Roche comeback bid, 25-20. 

After dropping the third set, 26-24, the Yeowomen took care of business in the fourth, which featured 10 ties.  Mitchell broke the tie the final time with a kill to make it a 19-18 Yeowomen lead. The teams exchanged points down the stretch, but Oberlin won the race to 25 when Gibbs' spike sealed the victory, 25-22. 

In the match, Oberlin converted on 55 of its 126 attacks (.246) and the Redhawks only earned 40 kills in the match on its 119 attempts (.151). Gibbs led the team with 18 kills in its final match of the day, while Mitchell recorded 17 in the victory. Chang and Lam ran the offense and tallied 20 assists each. 

Defensive specialist Emily Kelkar led the team with 17 digs, while Mitchell reached down for nine. Oberlin had 9.5 total blocks in the match as Chang led the team with eight blocks assists in the match. 

The 3-3 Yeowomen will be back in action next weekend when they travel to Wooster, Ohio for the Ginny Hunt Kilt Classic hosted by The College of Wooster. Oberlin will start competition on Friday night against Marietta College at 5:30 p.m. and will get a re-match with Westminster at 7:30 p.m.