Last Friday, Nov. 5, the Wooster volleyball team finished its season at the hands of Hiram College (24-10, 13-1 NCAC) in the semifinal round of the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament in Springfield, Ohio. This was their second loss to Hiram in just as many matches and Wooster’s third Hiram loss for the season. The second-seeded Terriers swept the Fighting Scots 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-21).
Wooster (18-14, 9-5 NCAC) gained little ground in the first two sets, trading points with Hiram but was not able to pull away by more than a point. In the third set, Wooster went on a 10-4 run after being tied 6-6 with the help of kills by Erin Webster ’12, Paige Parker ’14, and Melissa Morgan ’13.
However, once up 16-10, the wheels of Wooster’s momentum fell off and Hiram was able to rally and win the set after Wooster committed six attack errors. Hiram would go on to be swept by number one seeded Wittenberg University (30-2, 13-1 NCAC) in the NCAC finals the next day.
Parker led the Scots with seven kills and five aces in the match. She would be selected to the All-NCAC Tournament team the next day.
Although Wooster’s season fell short in the NCAC tournament, three players were named to the All-NCAC Volleyball Teams. Kelley Johnson ’13 was named Libero of the Year and garnered a second-team selection. Lizzi Beal ’12 and Sarah Hawke ’12 each received second-team and honorable mention selections.
Johnson became the second player in Wooster history to be awarded Libero of the Year honors behind an extremely impressive performance this season. She had the sixth most digs in school history (660) and also finished top-25 in the country in digs per set (5.89).† Her career-high in digs (48) came against Baldwin-Wallace College on Sept. 10.
Beal’s second team selection is added to her two previous NCAC selections as well as her NCAC Newcomer of the Year award. Beal finished the season with 863 assists. She has become the second player in team history to have three seasons with more than 850 assists. Her career assists, which stand at 2,919, places her second in Wooster volleyball history.
This was Hawke’s first appearance on the NCAC All-Conference volleyball squad. Hawke had a breakout season, setting career highs in kills (204), solo blocks (12) and block assists (59). Hawke’s best performances of the season were against Hiram College (Oct. 17), when she delivered 14 kills, and against Ohio Wesleyan University (Sept. 25), when she recorded a .522 hitting percentage.
Although Wooster was not able to† move on to the NCAC championship match this season, there are plenty of personal accomplishments as well as hopes for next season. The Scots managed to post a winning record of 18-14 and Wooster will hopefully return all of its players to next year’s squad, as there were no senior players this past season.