Oberlin, Ohio – The Oberlin College volleyball team picked up their first NCAC win of the season as they cruised in straight sets on Wednesday night inside the Philips Gymnasium.
The Yeowomen jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first set thanks to kills by
Jaya Flynn-Young,
Iyanna Lewis and
Maura Gibbs. A pair of Allegheny attack errors pushed the deficit to eight at 10-2 but a Gators kill cut the margin in half at 10-6. Consecutive kills by Lewis and
Natasha Radic got the lead back up to eight at 15-7 before back-to-back finishes by Gibbs gave Oberlin a double-digit advantage at 18-8. A pair of Yeowomen errors trimmed the lead under 10 at 21-12 but kills by Flynn-Young,
Lindsey Felton and Lewis sealed the 25-15 first set victory for Oberlin.
Allegheny responded early in the second set as the score was knotted at 5-5. An
Emery Beacom kill gave Oberlin a slight 8-6 lead but the Gators retied the score at 10-10 with consecutive kills of their own. Beacom registered two more kills to push her team ahead by two as the score remained close during the middle of the set with a Radic kill putting the Yeowomen ahead 18-16. A service error would cut the lead to one at 19-18 before Oberlin won six of the last seven points to take the second set 25-19.
Samantha Lam set up Lewis for a kill to put the Yeowomen up 7-3 early in the third. After an Allegheny kill, Oberlin went on a 9-4 run which included three kills by Beacom and two by Gibbs to open up some breathing room at 16-7. The Gators stopped the stretch with a pair of kills but two more kills by Gibbs had the Yeowomen in control at 21-13. Another Allegheny kill stopped the Oberlin momentum for a second before it won the last four points to win the set 25-14 and earn their first North Coast Athletic Conference victory of the season.
Gibbs and Beacom had 15 and nine kills respectively to lead the Yeowomen on the offensive side while Lam notched 33 assists. It was a team effort on the defensive end as Felton had 12digs followed closely by
Lauren Fitts, Radic and Gibbs who had 10 apiece.
Oberlin takes the court at Philips Gymnasium on Saturday, October 5
th for a Homecoming Weekend match against Ohio Wesleyan at 1:00 p.m.
