Oberlin, Ohio - The fourth-seeded Oberlin College volleyball team fell to fifth-seeded Hiram College Terriers in four sets (18-25, 13-25, 25-22, 19-25) in the opening round of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament on Tuesday night at Philips.
Hosting a home playoff game for the first time in program history in front of a packed Philips Gym crowd, the Yeowomen clearly had some early-match nerves and were never able to fully fight their way out of it as Hiram jumped on Oberlin from the onset by hitting .429 in the opening set.
Playing in her final collegiate match,
Lauren Sands led the Oberlin attack with 18 kills while classmate
Andréa Jones added 10 in the loss.
Taylor Gwynne rounded out the senior trio by delivering 40 assists on the night.
Iris Archibald guided the back row effort with 22 bigs, while
Cami Sweet was strong at the net with four solo blocks to go along with five kills.
It was tied 5-5 in the early going of the opening set but the Terriers were able to create some significant separation, grabbing a 16-10 advantage on an Emily Richardson kill and would trail by no less than five points the rest of the way.
Hiram used the momentum to race out to a 5-0 lead in the second stanza and never looked back as the Yeowomen hit just .023 in the frame with 10 kills against nine errors.
However, Oberlin did find a way to stave off the sweep with a three-point win in a third set that featured six ties and three lead changes. The Yeowomen were trailing 14-11 at the midway point but a service ace from
Zeynep Kaya knotted the affair at 17-17. It was later level at 21-21 but back-to-back kills from Sands and Sweet gave Oberlin a little breathing room as they finished off the win with another send-down from Sands.
Unfortunately, Oberlin could not sustain the momentum as the Terriers quickly regrouped to grab a 10-2 lead to open up the fourth set. The Yeowomen continued to fight, crawling their way into the battle as a kill from Jones made it 18-14. Consecutive Hiram errors would later give Oberlin some life at 20-17 but the Terriers would not be denied in the end.
Oberlin hit just .123 for the match with 48 kills and 28 errors, marking its sixth-lowest success rate of the season. The second-ranked serving team in the NCAC, Oberlin also finished with just six aces.
The Yeowomen end their historic season at 13-10 overall, while Hiram moves on to the NCAC Semifinals.
