KEENE, N.H. - In their first away matches of the season, the No. 17 nationally-ranked Wesleyan volleyball team won two this Saturday, moving their record to 7-0 through two weeks of the 2022 season. In this doubleheader hosted by Keene State, the Cardinals won by identical 3-1 scores over Johnson & Wales and the host Owls. JWU is now 2-5 while Keene State is now 1-7.
In their first match against JWU, the Cardinals totaled 13 blocks and 70 digs. In this match, defense picked up slack for a struggling offense. Wesleyan earned 39 kills with 23 errors for a team attack percentage of .132. Heading into the day, the previous season-low for Wesleyan in attack percentage was .270 in a win over Southwestern.
Graduate libero Jenna Otaola '22 led the Cardinals with a season-high 19 digs followed by Grace Bell '23 with 11. Grace Dennis '23 totaled 15 assists followed by Ali Landa '26 with a career-high of 12 assists. Even with the higher total of attack errors, the Cardinals were able to adjust later in the match and record dominating 25-8 and 25-13 third and fourth set victories, respectively.
The Wildcats struggled to score against the Cardinal defense, posting 32 kills and 38 hitting errors for a -0.041 attack percentage. JWU tallied 55 digs and five aces. Oliver Peyton led the Wildcats with 14 kills while Emily Corbett earned 17 digs.
Wesleyan won the first set 25-22 with the Wildcats going on an 8-4 run at the end of the set. Using that momentum, JWU took the second set 25-19. Back for revenge, the Cardinals rearrange their lineup and won the next two sets by dominating score lines of 25-8 and 25-13 to close the match.
The Cardinals had to come back together after a short break to play the home team Keene State. Wesleyan amassed a total of 61 kills with only 10 errors for a team hitting percentage of 0.421, a new season-high for the Cardinals. Wesleyan also totaled 61 digs and nine blocks against the Owls. Although in this match they struggling a little more with serve receive and defense, the Cardinals worked hard and made up for it in other areas of the game.
Dennis was dishing the ball all over the court, recording her first career 50+ assist game with a career-high 52 in the four-set victory. Sophia Lindus '26 also earned a career-high, leading the team with 19 kills while hitting .472. Michelle Jorba '25 and Bella Ahearn '23 followed with 17 and 16 kills, respectively, with an attack efficiency of over 0.600 each. Kathryn Morton '24 added seven kills and three blocks to the mix along with Mariko Tanaka '24 finishing with five blocks. Bianca Ortiz '24 led the Cardinal defense with 19 digs.
Keene State totaled 46 kills with 23 hitting errors for a team hitting percentage of 0.167. The Owls scored eight aces. Leading KSU was Cassidy Samuelson with 13 kills followed by Sydney Johnson with 12. Kacie Blanchett earned 36 assists for the owls while Fleming earned 10 digs.
Wesleyan got off to a rocky start, losing the first set 25-23 after the Owls went on a 4-point run to close the set. Wesleyan then came back with no mercy in the second and third set winning 25-12 and 25-13, respectively. The fourth set was much closer, as the Owls came back fighting. Wesleyan was trailing 18-14 in the fourth before a Kiana Yuhl '25 service run gave the Cardinals the lead at 19-18. That 5-0 run carried Cardinals who were able to secure the match with consecutive kills from Morton and Ahearn.
This Wednesday, the Cardinals travel to Trinity for their second NESCAC match of the season. This Saturday, Wesleyan will host a tournament where they'll play Susquehanna at 2:30 PM and No. 6 NYU at 7:30 PM.
