Oberlin, Ohio – The Oberlin College volleyball team dropped their home and conference opener to Wooster 3-1 on Tuesday night inside Phillips Gymnasium.
 
The Fighting Scots jumped out to an early 6-1 lead in the first set after a pair of Yeowomen attack errors. Oberlin responded thanks to consecutive service aces by Samantha Lam to trim the deficit to two at 7-5. A Natasha Radic kill knotted the score at 9-9 and the teams traded points for a stretch, remaining tied at 13-13. Wooster took six of the following eight points to open up some breathing room at 19-15 and force an Oberlin timeout. The Yeowomen answered with three of the next four points, capped by a Jaya Flynn-Young service ace, to pull within two at 20-18. Unfortunately, the Fighting Scots responded by taking five of the next six points to win the first set 25-19.
 
In the second set, it would be Oberlin that raced out to an early lead as three straight Wooster attack errors gave the Yeowomen an early 7-2 lead. An Emery Beacom kill held the margin at five at 13-8 but the Fighting Scots did not go away as a pair of kills cut the deficit to three at 18-15 and forced a Yeowomen timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Flynn-Young rallied off three consecutive points including two service aces to push the lead back to five at 21-16. An Oberlin error stopped the run, but Wooster did not get closer than four at the end of the set as the Yeowomen won set two 25-20 to tie up the match.
 
The beginning of the third set was back and forth as a Maura Gibbs kill tied the score up at 9-9. A pair of Oberlin attack errors had them trailing 14-10 but kills by McLean Sammon and Radic cut the deficit to one at 15-14 and forced Wooster to take a timeout. Errors again plagued the Yeowomen as three more after the timeout pushed the lead back to four at 19-15 and that's as close as they would get in the set as the Fighting Scots won the set 25-19 to hold a 2-1 match lead.
 
Wooster doubled up Oberlin early in the fourth with the score standing at 10-5. The Fighting Scots stretched the lead to six with a kill but a pair of attack errors kept the Yeowomen within three at 15-12. Another Beacom kill retied the set at 17-17 for the first time since the score was 1-1. Zoe Kuzbari registered a huge service ace to put her team in front 20-19 but the teams traded kills to keep the score tied up at 22-22. Consecutive Oberlin attack errors gave Wooster a two-point advantage but a ball handling error and consecutive Radic kills put the Yeowomen back ahead by one at 25-24. Wooster answered, Radic registered another kill and the Fighting Scots earned one of their own to again retie the score at 26-26. Wooster got the next kill to make it match point before closing it out with a service ace to win a tight fourth set 28-26 and take the match three sets to one.
 
Radic paced all Oberlin hitters with 13 kills as Lam recorded 30 assists while also picking up 15 digs. Gibbs lead the Yeowomen on the defensive end with 20 digs and added nine kills.
 
Oberlin heads to Kenyon for another North Coast Athletic Conference match on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. before returning home on Saturday, September 28^th for a 2:00 p.m. tilt against Case Western Reserve.