Yellow Jackets defeat Kenyon in four sets fueled by big night from Clements

DEFIANCE, Ohio - The Defiance College volleyball team took down Kenyon in four sets (25-20, 16-25, 25-21, 21-16) for their first home win of the season Wednesday night inside the Karl H. Weaner Center. Freshman Shelby Clements had a big night, recording a team-high 18 kills in a team-high 37 opportunities for a hitting percentage of 0.432.

Defiance improves to 3-12 overall with the win and the Owls are now 3-13. 

The Yellow Jackets jumped out to a 3-0 lead in set one and led the entire set as Madison Schoenauer recorded a kill and the other two points came from Kenyon errors. Kills from Aliza Clark and Shelby Clements saw Defiance take a 14-4 lead. The Owls rallied and trailed by only one point, 16-15. Defiance had an answer and responded by winning the next three points and used the momentum to close out the set.

After Kenyon scored the first point of set two, the Yellow Jackets took a 5-1 lead fueled by two service aces from Ellie Belvo. The Yellow Jackets led 7-5 after a kill from Abi Teders. The Owls would lead the rest of the way after that to claim set two. Defiance trailed 17-16 after a service ace from Madison Schoenauer but the Owls won the final eight points of the set. 

Defiance scored the first two points of set three, but found themselves trailing 10-8 halfway through. An attack error from Aliza Clark and a kill from Aura Barinas saw the Owls rally to tie it at 18. Defiance would go on to take seven of the final ten points to win set three. Kaylynn Wellman recorded a kill to set up set point and the Yellow Jackets won the final point on a ball handling error by Rachel Ferrara. 

Defiance led the way in set four after losing the first point. The Yellow Jackets held multiple leads of three points throughout the set. Shelby Clements extended the lead to 17-13 and a kill from Ellie Belvo saw DC take a 20-15 lead, their largest of the set. A service error from Amina Chamoun made it 20-16 and the Owls would not record another point in the set as Shelby Clements recorded three kills in the final sequence including back-to-back kills to end the set and the match.

Kenyon finished with 47 kills, 40 assists, and 40 digs. Defiance ended with 46 kills, 41 assists, and 33 digs.

Shelby Clements led the way with 18 kills and Courtney Maxwell led the team in assists with 18. Ellie Belvo had six of the 11 service aces for the Yellow Jackets in the match. Hope Yost returned from injury and recorded two assists and two digs in two sets.

The Yellow Jackets will play their first conference road match Saturday night at Manchester at 6:30 p.m.