MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – The Wesleyan volleyball team improved to 3-0 with a pair of victories in the Cardinals' home opener. The Cardinals started the day downing RIT by set scores of 25-12, 25-22 and 25-19 before cruising past Western Connecticut State (25-15, 25-20, 25-21) in a packed Silloway Gymnasium in the nightcap.

RIT MATCH HIGHLIGHTS:

• Wesleyan jumped out to an early lead with four unanswered points to start the first set, followed by an 8-0 run as the Cardinals led 13-2. That 11-point edge proved more than enough as the teams traded points before Wesleyan ultimately came out with a 25-15 triumph. Wesleyan hit .310 (13 kills, four errors on 29 attempts) while the Tigers struggled to get anything going offensively, hitting .000 (five kills, five errors on 25 attempts).
• RIT put the pressure on in the early going of the second set, leading 8-4, before Wesleyan rattled off four straight points to kick start an 8-2 run. The set-deciding run followed a few points later as a 6-0 run made it 18-12. Four straight kills from four different Cardinals in that scoring spurt built a comfortable lead before the set was ultimately won on a Maddie Kurke '22 kill as Wesleyan came out on top, 25-22.
• It was back-and-forth in the early going in the third set before another Wesleyan run in the middle portion created enough separation to close the victory late. Wesleyan went on a 5-0 run to lead 13-10 and later finished strong with a 10-4 run that finished off a victory over the previously unbeaten Tigers.
• Kurke led the Cardinal offense with 11 kills while Mariko Tanaka '24 was hyper-efficient, recording 10 kills against just one error in 18 total attempts as she hit .500 for the match. Brina Kuslak '23 was even more efficient, hitting .545 in the middle with seven kills and one error on 11 attacks. Kate Long '24 and Sydney Smith '25 each tallied six kills. Grace Bell '23 totaled a career-high 17 digs to lead the Wesleyan defense. Grace Dennis '23 finished with 33 assists and 12 digs for her second straight double-double to open 2021.

WCSU MATCH HIGHLIGHTS:

• Smith was the featured player in the early going of the nightcap as she helped engineer a 7-1 Cardinal run in the first set, recording four kills in that span. Later in the first, a 5-0 run capped a larger 8-1 Wesleyan run as that gave the Cardinals a 19-11 advantage before finishing off a 25-15 opening set victory. Wesleyan fed off a raucous home crowd, hitting .344 (15 kills, four errors on 32 attempts) to jump out front.
• WCSU was the aggressor in the early stages of the second set, leading 8-4 early but a dominating 9-0 Wesleyan run pushed the home side into the lead. Jenna Otaola '22 was the key piece in that run, recording three service aces in that span. The set ended on a Tanaka kill as Wesleyan took a 2-0 set lead.
• In the third, six unanswered Wesleyan points early helped set the stage as Dennis served during the run, tallying one service ace as the Cardinals led 8-3 early. WCSU responded with an 8-0 run of their own to retake the lead but Wesleyan had a pair of 5-0 runs that combined into a 10-1 spurt. Kurke was the focal point in the run as she recorded four kills and chipped in a block assist as well. To close out the match, Wesleyan won three straight points including a match-sealing Kurke kills as the Cardinals came away with the 25-21 third set win.
• Kurke reached double figures in kills for the third straight match to start the season, recording 10 to go along with two blocks and five digs. Smith was dominant in her one set played, hitting .571 with five kills on seven attempts. Tanaka posted nine kills and hit .316 while Kuslak added six with a .333 hitting percentage. Otaola led the team in digs with 12 while Dennis went for 34 assists with seven digs. Kiana Yuhl '25 played solid defensively with eight digs in the match.

NEXT UP:
Wesleyan takes their undefeated recorded into arguably the most-challenging NESCAC weekend on the schedule as the Cardinals head on the road to face Bowdoin and Tufts next week. Bowdoin knocked Wesleyan out of the 2019 NESCAC Tournament in the semifinal round while Tufts is the reigning league champion and were the only conference team to defeat Wesleyan in the 2019 regular season.