LYNCHBURG, Va. - The Mary Baldwin volleyball team earned its first win of the season Saturday as the Fighting Squirrels split two matches at Randolph College.

The Squirrels swept Mid-Atlantic Christian 25-16, 25-11, 25-19, giving Jody Lohr his first victory as MBU's head coach. 

Rachel Christian put down 11 kills to lead MBU in its win over Mid-Atlantic Christian. Kate Rudolph and Emily Link split the setting duties with Rudolph finishing with 18 assists while Link added 12 assists. Soleil Rios Rolon had a strong game at the service line, finishing with five aces. Christian led the team in digs with 13.

Mary Baldwin trailed 14-12 in the opening set before grabbing the lead with six straight points. Link, Christian and Alexis Edmonds delivered kills, sparking the run to put MBU ahead 18-14. The Squirrels maintained the lead and two straight kills by Christian ended the first set, 25-16,

In the second set, MBU pulled away with a 13-4 run, turning a 12-7 lead into a 25-11 victory, Two kills by Christian powered MBU to an 18-7 lead. The Squirrels closed out the set with four straight points, two on kills by Sydney Clarke, to take the 25-11 win.

In the third set, MBU broke away from a 12-12 tie with nine unanswered points for a commanding 21-12 lead. Rios Rolon served two aces and Edmonds added two kills during the decisive run.   

MBU lost a heart-breaking decision to host Randolph College in five sets. Mary Baldwin won the first two sets 25-11, 25-23 but the WildCats stormed back to take the next three sets 25-18, 25-21, 15-11.

After Randolph won the third set, the two teams battled back and forth in the fourth set as the score was tied 10 times. The final tie came at 21-21 when the Squirrels pulled even on an attack error by the home team. Randolph then scored the final four points of the set to win 25-21 and force the deciding fifth set.

MBU fell behing early in the fifth set, but rallied with four straight points to even the score at 11-11. Kills by Christian and Megan Andrews and an ace by Rudolph helped the Squirrels even the score. Once again, however, Randolph closed with a flurry, scoring the next four points to win the deciding fifth set 15-11.

Clarke led the Squirrels with 13 kills and Christian added 11. Rudolph finished with 21 assists while Rios Rolon recorded a team-high 18 digs. Jada Keene added three blocks for MBU. 

MBU, now 1-2, returns to action Wednesday when the Squirrels host Hollins.