(ASHLAND, Va.) – Sydney Koch (Sr., Raleigh, N.C. / Sanderson) put down 22 kills to lead the Randolph-Macon offense, but it wasn't enough as the second-seeded Yellow Jackets fell to No. 3 Virginia Wesleyan in the ODAC semifinals Friday. It was a five-set heartbreaker as the Lemon & Black went up 2-0 and had multiple chances at a potential match point, but the visitors stayed alive and came back to take the final three sets.

RMC will have to wait to see if it receives an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament while the Marlins move on to Sunday's conference title match.

The Basics

Score: No. 2 Randolph-Macon 2, No. 3 Virginia Wesleyan 3 (22-25, 22-25, 31-29, 25-19, 15-6)

Venue: Crenshaw Gym

Records: Randolph-Macon 18-10, Virginia Wesleyan 24-8

How It Happened

• A back-and-forth set didn't see much separation between the two teams. Two kills by Koch and another by Madison Warlick (Sr., Charlottesville, Va. / Albemarle) helped give RMC a 23-17 lead for the largest lead of the game, but the Marlins cut the deficit back to two before Koch could put away the game with another pair of kills.
• The second set looked similar to the first and even resulted in the same score. A block by Warlick and Koch sparked a small 4-0 run to put the Jackets up 13-10, but the Marlins bounced right back and regained the lead at 14-13 after a timeout. Neither team could string together three-straight points until RMC did so to make the score 22-19. After another Marlins timeout, teams exchanged the next four points before Koch put the hosts up with another kill.
• The third set ended up being a marathon. Despite 60 points being played, no one scored more than three in a row. Randolph-Macon did so down three to tie the set at 22-all and used that momentum to serve for the potential match point three times, but Virginia Wesleyan staved off elimination and eventually forced a fourth with kills by Morgan Ludovici, Jenna Waters, and Alexis Davies-Hackenberg.
• The Yellow Jackets led in the early goings of the fourth before VWU tied the game with a Ludovici kill. That started a stretch where the Marlins outscored the Jackets 11-5 to take it to a deciding fifth set.
• The Marlins jumped out to an early 6-0 lead, and while the Yellow Jackets were able to cut the deficit to four at 10-6, it was too much to overcome as the visitors closed out their comeback with the final five points.

Inside The Numbers

• Koch ended the night with 22 kills on 48 attempts and had a hitting percentage of .375. Defensively she also led the team up front with five blocks.
• Grace Parker (Jr., Andover, N.J. / Pope John XXIII) and Danielle LaRosa (Sr., Charlottesville, Va. / Albemarle) also reached double digits with 18 and 13 kills, respectively. Parked ended up with a double-double with 12 digs.
• Leslie Currie (So., Mechanicsville, Va. / Hanover) led the team on the receiving end with 28 digs.
• Macguire Gubba (Sr., Grove City, Pa. / Grove City) set up the offense with 55 assists for a new season-best.
• Ludovici led the Marlins with 17 kills.
• Sydney Collins led the Marlins defense with eight blocks.