written by Brina Kuslak '22

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - Bella Ahearn '23 posted one of the best performances of her career, totaling nine kills on just 11 attempts for a stunning .818 hitting percentage, leading the Cardinals to a 3-0 win against Bates from Silloway Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon. Wesleyan swept the matched with set scores of 25-18, 25-16 and 25-10.
 
This win marks the sixth straight victory for Wesleyan who move to 9-1 on the season, 7-0 at home and 4-1 in the NESCAC. Bates drops to 5-7 (1-4 NESCAC) with the defeat.

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS:

• Sydney Smith '25 opened the match with a kill for the Cardinals and Kiana Yuhl '25 followed with a service run to give Wesleyan a quick 6-1 lead in the opening set. Another run with three kills from Mariko Tanaka '24 brought the Cardinals to a commanding 18-4 lead. Trailing 14 points, the Bobcats capitalized on Cardinal errors to make it a closer score of 25-18.
• The Cardinals started off slow in the second set, but managed to keep it together with impressive defense by Jenna Otaola '22 who finished the match with her second straight 20-dig effort. Wesleyan closed out this back and forth set with a score of 25-16.
• An early lead of 11-2 set the Cardinals up for a quick third set with kills across the front row and allowed Lila Sayre '25 to make her debut and get the first kill of her career for the Cardinals. A kill from Brina Kuslak '22 finished the match with a score of 25-10.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Ahearn totaled nine kills on 11 attempts with no errors to earn her the highest hitting percentage of the season for the Cardinals. Other leading hitters for Wesleyan were Maddie Kurke '22 and Kuslak who tallied nine and eight kills respectively. 
• Otaola led the defense with 20 digs and Grace Bell '23 was close behind with 14 digs. The pair kept the Bobcats to only 18 kills in the entire match. 
• As a team, Wesleyan posted 48 kills against just nine errors in 100 total attempts for a season-high .390 hitting percentage.
• Tanaka was another standout as she posted seven kills on 10 attempts (.700 hitting %) with three blocks and three digs in just two sets played.
• Alyssa Lowther led Bates in kills with four followed by Charlotte Morris, Julia Neumann, and Catie Sanchew who all earned three.

UP NEXT
The Cardinals will be back in Silloway Gymnasium next weekend for three days of home games. Kicking off this run will be an out of conference match against Endicott on Thursday night at 6:00 PM.