Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Cardinal volleyball team kicked off its season Friday evening by splitting a pair of matches on day one of the annual Capital/Otterbein Tournament, topping Ohio Christian University in straight sets before falling 3-0 to Kenyon College.

The Cardinals (1-1) will finish out the event with two matches Saturday afternoon across town at Capital, playing Denison University at 12:30 p.m. and then finishing with Earlham College at approximately 2:30 p.m.

Otterbein breezed past Ohio Christian (3-3) to begin the day, winning by scores of 25-18, 25-14, 25-19 to get the fall campaign off on the right foot.

The Cards won the first eight points of the entire match, eventually opening a 16-4 margin and never looking back en route to capturing three-straight sets.

Sophomore Olivia Harris and Alana King-Mendenhall led the way offensively, combining for 15 kills and hitting .400 and .375, respectively. All-OAC setter Andrea Miller handed out 18 assists while promising freshman libero Ashlyn Leon came up with 11 digs in her collegiate debut.

Otterbein delivered eight service aces throughout and its defense forced the Trailblazers into hitting -.068 for the match.

The Cards didn't have as much luck in the second outing of the day, falling in three-consecutive games to much-improved Kenyon (3-0) by counts of 11-25, 21-25, 18-25.

Kenyon easily took the first frame but had to hold off a scrappy Otterbein squad in the second, leading 15-10 midway through until the Cards flew back and closed within 18-17. The Ladies regrouped from there, winning five of the next-six points and opening a 2-0 match lead.

The third set featured early scoring exchanges back and forth, ultimately putting s 13-13 tie on the scoreboard before Kenyon found a groove to win six-consecutive points behind the serve of Mackenzie Bruzzio. Otterbein would unfortunately never recover.

Four players tallied five-plus kills for the Cardinals, led by seven from junior Marie Thornton and then six from Harris and junior Brett Bey, who was suiting up for the first time in a Tan and Cardinal uniform on Friday after transferring from Columbus State.

Kenyon hit .214 in the match compared to a .062 clip for Otterbein. Delaney Swanson ripped off a match-high 15 kills, Bruzzio chipped in another 10 and setter Jensen Shurbert finished with a solid 30 assists. Miller dished out 19 on the opposite side for the Cards.