HARTFORD, Conn. - Wednesday night in Trinity's Oosting Gymnasium, the No. 16 ranked Wesleyan volleyball team continued their unbeaten start to the season in a 3-0 (25-15, 25-13, 25-11) win over the Bantams. Now 8-0 for the first time since 2017, Wesleyan (8-0, 2-0 NESCAC) also earned their seventh consecutive win over Trinity (3-4, 0-2 NESCAC).

Wesleyan recorded a total of 34 kills with 7 errors for a hitting percentage of 0.351 for the match. As a team, Wesleyan dug 39 balls and earned 10 blocks. The Cardinals also scored six aces, five of which came from Bianca Ortiz '24, a new career-high for the junior.

Mariko Tanaka '24, playing more on the outside this match, lead the team with nine kills while hitting 0.318. Bella Ahearn '23 followed closely with eight kills, hitting 0.467.

Grace Dennis '23 ran the court tonight with 27 assists, five kills, and seven digs. Ortiz led the team with 12 digs, followed by Grace Bell '23 with eight. Kathryn Morton '24 stopped Trinity's offense, adding five blocks to the team's total of 10 blocks.

The Bantams recorded 26 kills but piled up 26 errors for a hitting percentage of .000. Leading Trinity's offense was Molly Berstein and Ava Boloyan with seven kills apiece.

The Cardinals started off strong in the first set with a 7-0 run that Trinity could not come back from, thus securing Wesleyan's first set victory, 25-15. Using that momentum Wesleyan closed the second set 25-13 with back-to-back kills from Michelle Jorba '25 and Dennis. 

Ortiz started the third set off strong with a 5-point service run. The Cardinals pushed forward with this early lead, as Trinity began to error more. The third set and the match was sealed with a block by Morton for a 25-11 win.

Wesleyan hosts their second Invitational in three weeks as the Cardinals welcome Susquehanna, New York University and Tufts on Saturday. The Cardinals will do battle against Susquehanna at 2:30 PM and No. 9 NYU at 7:00 PM.