CWRU Opens Great Lakes Cross Over with Sweep of Kenyon

CWRU Opens Great Lakes Cross Over with Sweep of Kenyon

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The Case Western Reserve University volleyball team picked up its first win of the season, sweeping Kenyon College 25-16, 25-10, 25-16, to begin play at the Great Lakes Cross Over at Frann's Fieldhouse on the campus of Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio, on Friday night.

The Spartans improved to 1-1 with victory, while the Owls dropped to 0-3 with the loss.

Stats and Standouts

  • First-year Maya Zarow paced the squad with 11 kills and a .647 hitting percentage with senior Katie Yanni adding nine kills in just two sets
  • First-year Piper Starling (22 assists) and junior Avery Basinger (16 assists) split the setting duties, with Starling leading the team with nine digs while Basinger added two aces
  • First-year Ava Felgar contributed seven kills, two aces, and two digs, and senior Sude Naz Item added eight digs
  • Overall, CWRU had a .371 hitting percentage (49 kills) while holding Kenyon to a .110 hitting percentage (23 kills)
  • The Spartans had nine service aces as a team

First Set (25-16)

  • The Spartans took a four-point lead early in the set and used a 4-0 run to take an 11-5 advantage on a kill by junior Sienna Olson
  • Kenyon cut the deficit to four, but a pair of kills, a service ace, and an attacking error put CWRU ahead by eight, 15-7
  • An ace by Basinger gave Case Western Reserve an 18-8 lead, the team's largest of the stanza
  • Senior Emily Goodpaster closed out the set with a kill, her second of the evening

Second Set (25-10)

  • Leading 6-5, CWRU scored five consecutive points on the service of Basinger and took a 13-6 lead on an ace by Item
  • Back-to-back kills by Zarow and sophomore Olivia Myers gave the Spartans a 15-7 edge
  • A Zarow kill followed by two consecutive Kenyon errors gave the Spartans a 10-point edge, 18-8, and kills by Olson and Felgar increased the lead to 12
  • Case Western Reserve won five of the final seven points to clinch the second set

Third Set (25-16)

  • The teams battled early in the final set with the Owls taking an 11-9 lead
  • The Spartans won six of the next seven points to gain a 15-12 edge on an ace by Item and added to their lead with kills by first-year Remy Foos and Yanni
  • A 4-0 put CWRU ahead 21-14, and the Case Western Reserve clinched the match by winning four of the last six points
  • First-year Sophie Bell secured the victory with a service ace

Spartan Notes

  • CWRU improved to 8-1 in the last nine matchups with Kenyon with six sweeps in the eight victories
  • Zarow had at least 10 kills for the second consecutive match
  • The nine service aces are the most by a Spartan team since putting down 12 on October 12, 2025, against WashU
  • Case Western Reserve recorded its 11th best hitting percentage in a single match all time, and its best hitting percentage as a team in a single match since November 2, 2019 (.373 vs. Buffalo State)