In its final games before the NCAC tournament, the Kenyon volleyball team dropped a pair of non-conference matches on Saturday. Ahead of their first-round bout with the College of Wooster, the Owls’ record stands at 4-20 (2-5 NCAC).

Against Muskingum University, Kenyon was unable to put together much momentum in the first set. A 10-3 run put the Muskies in the driver seat early, and they won 25-14. The Owls were able to rebound in the second set. They jumped out to a 12-6 lead, but Muskingum went on a run of their own to take a 16-14 lead. The two teams traded points for the rest of the set, but a kill by Becca Gwynne ’26 sealed the Owls’ 25-23 victory. Unfortunately, Muskingum was able to put together multiple big runs in the third and fourth sets to take the match 3-1.

In their final match of the regular season, Kenyon found themselves on the wrong side of a 2-0 deficit against John Carroll University after dropping the first two sets 25-12 and 25-15. Much like in the second set against Muskingum, the Owls took a decisive early lead before fighting off a comeback from the Blue Flashes and taking a 25-22 win. In the decisive fourth set, John Carroll never trailed on their way to a 25-16 victory.

With the regular season behind them, the Owls are looking forward to the NCAC tournament, which they will enter as the seventh seed in a field of eight. They will play the sixth-seeded College of Wooster, who defeated Kenyon 3-1 on Oct. 19. According to Macy Reimbold ’23, who led the team this season with 209 kills, the team’s expectations are high. “Our expectations are that we are going to win,” she wrote in an email to the Collegian. “I think we have a great opportunity this weekend to show just how hard we have worked and how much we want to win.” The Owls will take on the Fighting Scots at 4 p.m. on Saturday in Springfield, Ohio.