Earlham Fights Past Anderson

The Anderson University Ravens volleyball team took on the Earlham College Quakers inside the O.C. Lewis Gymnasium on Saturday in a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) contest. The Ravens fell in a three-set contest to the Quakers by scores of 25-13, 25-23, 25-21.

Set 1 saw the Quakers (15-5, 4-1) take a quick and early lead over the Ravens (9-11, 2-3) as they built a 5-0 lead to begin the match. The Ravens battled back to bring it within one as a kill by Ashlyn Transier made it an 8-7 game in the Quakers favor. A tough Quaker offense went on another run, building their lead to nine points as they led the Ravens 17-8. Anderson was able to get five points before the Quakers ended the set. Earlham took set one 25-13.

Anderson and Earlham went back and forth in Set 2, with neither team allowing the other to take much of a lead. Kaycie Gates (Newburgh, Ind. / Castle) picked up back-to-back service aces to tie the set and then give the Ravens a 9-8 lead. A kill by Gates followed as well as an attacking error by the Quakers as the Ravens built their lead up to 11-8. The set continued to remain close, with four more ties happening before the end of the set. Earlham would pull away slightly before the end of the set to secure a 25-23 victory over the Ravens.

During the third set, Anderson fell early to the Quakers. Although Earlham seemed to be building a lead over the Ravens, Kate Todd (Festus, Mo. / Festus) would put on the offensive pressure to get the Ravens back in the set. A kill by Jimena Montano (Algonquin, Ill. / Harvest Christian Academy) made it a 20-12 set as the Ravens trailed. Anderson was giving the ball with Kate Todd up to serve. Tess Perdue (Lexington, Ky. / West Jessamine) gave the Ravens one point with a kill before Kate Todd picked up three service aces in a row. Shaylen Perry (Eaton, Ohio / Eaton) then joined in with a kill of her own. Kate Todd once again got a service ace of the Quakers before Earlham took a timeout. Kate Todd's attack on the Quakers continued for two more points as she forced two attacking errors to make it a 20-20 set, capping off a 9-0 run. Although a service error would give the Quakers a point, the Ravens quickly answered with a kill by Olivia Ricica (Bryan, Ohio / Fairview), making it 21-21. An error on the Ravens followed by three Quakers kills ended the set 25-21, thus ending the match as the Ravens fell in three sets to the Quakers.

Head Coach Tami Miller said the following after the match: "Tess Perdue played one of her best games thus far but we were unable to help her offensively to stretch the match past three sets. While we continue to improve on our scrappiness on the outside and making our opponents play out of system on theirs, the rallies tend to end with us falling short of winning the points. Until we improve on either blocking the ball at the end of the rallies or putting the ball away we will struggle. Our fight and will to win is there! We will continue to improve at our fundamentals and therefore put us in a position to win."

Inside the box score, Felicity Bontrager (Goshen, Ind. / Fairfield), Jimena Montano, and Tess Perdue each picked up seven kills. Perdue had a .217 hitting percentage to end the day. For the second game in a row, Kate Todd served five aces against the Ravens opponent. Kaycie Gates gave the Ravens 17 assists.

Anderson will now travel to Terre Haute to compete against the Rose-Hulman Fightin' Engineers (10-13, 1-4) in HCAC action on Wednesday. First serve will take place at 7PM.