Volleyball wins 36th annual ONU Invitational, places two on the All-Tournament Team

By Ashley Birchmeier

ADA — The Ohio Northern volleyball team swept Defiance and Wooster on Saturday to win the 36th annual ONU Invitational with a 4-0 record.

ONU defeated Defiance 25-17, 25-12, 25-11 in the first match Saturday morning, then went on to defeat Wooster 25-19, 25-19, 25-20 Saturday afternoon to remain perfect on the season. 

Against Defiance, freshman Hannah Davis sparked the offense with nine kills. Sophomore Ashley Borchers recorded 33 assists and three digs in the contest.

Set one was a battle early but ONU pulled away late and never looked back. After a Davis kill to make the score 18-17, the Polar Bears went on a seven point rally, keyed by the attack of junior Ellie Gillespie, freshman Lauren Hulette and junior Kaitlann Hogrefe.

In set two, the Polar Bears came out strong by scoring the first four points and ending the set with a 7-point run.

Set three saw ONU pulled away early and was able to hold Defiance to just 11 points.

In the afternoon match against Wooster, the Polar Bear were lead by freshman Megan Nieszala with 14 digs and Borchers with 34 assists.

Freshman Haley Potters had a career high seven kills and added one assist. Davis lead all kills in the match with ten.

Borchers had 130 assists and a team-best 12 blocks and Davis had 33 kills and hit .419 to lead Ohio Northern.

Ohio Northern will return to action Friday as they take on Coe (Iowa) at the Illinois Wesleyan Classic.