Gambier, Ohio – The Oberlin College volleyball team cruised to a first set win but dropped the next three in a four-set loss at Kenyon on Friday night.
 
The beginning of the first set was back and forth but three consecutive kills by the Yeowomen pulled them ahead at 9-7. Consecutive kills by Maura Gibbs and Jaya Flynn-Young doubled the lead to four at 13-9. After the Ladies cut the deficit back to two, the Yeowomen rattled off an 8-0 run, punctuated but a Lauren Fitts kill, to break open the set at 21-11. Samantha Lam set up Natasha Radic for a kill to give Oberlin the 25-14 first set victory.
 
Kenyon responded by racing out to an early 6-1 lead in the second set but back-to-back kills by Emery Beacom and Radic pulled Oberlin within two at 8-6. The Ladies doubled up the Yeowomen for a stretch as an 11-5 Kenyon run gave them a commanding advantage at 18-11. Oberlin answered with three straight points on another pair of kills by Beacom and Radic to cut the deficit to five. Another Radic kill kept the Yeowomen within four at 19-15 but the Ladies closed out the set as they started it, with a 6-1 run, to take the set two 25-16 and tie up the match.
 
The third set was the tightest of the night as Oberlin jumped out to an early 4-0 lead before Kenyon came back with four consecutive points of their own. A pair of Radic kills gave the Yeowomen a slight advantage at 10-7 but the Ladies rebounded with eight of the next nine to take their first lead of the set at 15-11. Oberlin fought back with five consecutive points on four kills, two each by Gibbs and Flynn-Young, to retake the lead. Kenyon answered yet again with three straight points to regain the lead at 18-16 before Lam found Flynn-Young to knot the score again at 18-18. Unfortunately, the Ladies won seven of the ten points to win the set 25-21 and take a two sets to one lead.
 
The fourth set was close in the beginning as an Iyanna Lewis kill put the Yeowomen ahead 6-5. Oberlin would then hurt themselves with four attack errors to aide a 6-0 Kenyon run and put themselves behind by five points. Beacom stopped the run with a kill but the Ladies took five of the next six points to double up the Yeowomen at 16-8. This time Gibbs broke the run but four more points by Kenyon brought the home team closer to closing this one out at 20-9. Oberlin fought till the end as a stretch of five straight points on three kills got the deficit under double digits at 23-15 but Kenyon quickly closed out the set and match with a 25-16 fourth set victory.
 
Gibbs and Radic paced the Yeowomen in kills with 16 and 13 respectively. Lam notched 39 assists while also leading the team with 18 digs. Zoe Kuzbari closely trailed behind Lam with 15 digs as Flynn-Young added four blocks.
 
Oberlin has a quick turnaround when it welcomes Case Western Reserve to Philips Gymnasium for Senior Day tomorrow at 2:00 p.m.