Eagles drop five-set thriller to OCU in RSC women's volleyball opener

MIDWAY, Ky. - Midway seemingly had all the momentum heading into a decisive fifth set, but a 6-0 scoring run by Oakland City shifted things in the Mighty Oaks' favor, as they defeated the Eagles 25-21, 22-25, 26-24, 16-25, 15-7 in each team's River States Conference women's volleyball opener Tuesday.

The Eagles, who had won four-consecutive RSC openers coming in, closed the fourth set in dominant fashion, scoring the final five points off the serve of Aubry Koester, who had two of her match-high five service aces in that sequence.

Tuesday was another excellent, balanced night for Koester, who also led Midway with 19 kills and five blocks while also recording 18 digs.

Midway was able to take a 3-2 lead early in the fifth set, but looked out of sorts as the Mighty Oaks proceeded to score 13 of the final 17 points to clinch the win. The fifth set was by far Midway's worst at the net, where it recorded a hitting percentage of negative-.136.

The Eagles also had their chances in a highly competitive third set that saw 12 ties and six lead changes. Following a Koester ace and two Nyla Gaines kills, Midway held a 21-18 lead.

But following a service error, Oakland City was able to rally, eventually taking a 23-22 lead. The Eagles were able to tie the score at both 23 and 24, only for Lisa Scapini to finish the set with back-to-back kills.

As they have for much of they year, Paige Miles and Marinna Liedle split assists almost down the middle, Miles recording 23, Liedle 22.

Koester was one of five Eagles with double-digit digs. Anju Sugiya and Blair Riney led the way with 19, Miles had 14 and Emily Slaughter recorded 11. The Eagles had 90 digs as a team, their most since recording 115 against Ohio Christian on Oct. 20 of last season.

Riney also had four aces.

Now 5-3 overall, the Eagles will try to break into the win column in conference play Friday, when they travel to face Indiana Columbus at 7 p.m. The match was originally slated to be played Saturday afternoon, but both sides elected to move it up a day.

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