Volleyball uses balanced attack to sweep area-rival Bluffton 25-19, 25-17, 25-22

Volleyball uses balanced attack to sweep area-rival Bluffton 25-19, 25-17, 25-22

Team Stats

September 10, 2014

By Tim Glon

BLUFFTON — The Ohio Northern volleyball team used a balanced offensive attack to post a 25-19, 25-17, 25-22 victory at area-rival Bluffton Wednesday night at the Sommer Center.

The Polar Bears improve to 7-2 on the year, while the Beavers suffer their first loss of the season and fall to 8-1.

Freshman Hannah Davis had nine kills to lead an ONU attack that saw six players with five or more kills.

With the victory, Ohio Northern extends its winning streak to three matches and has now won four consecutive true road matches, dating to Oct. 29 of 2013.

"It was a solid performance by our team," ONU head coach Kate Witte said. "We are young team and we need to keep growing. I thought we played with poise most of the night. Ashley (Borchers) set very well. I am very pleased with how we played tonight."

Junior Kaitlann Hogrefe had eight kills, junior Ellie Gillespie had seven kills and 12 digs and sophomore Ashley Borchers added six kills, 31 assists and six blocks for Ohio Northern.

Bluffton was led by MacKenzie McFarlin and Jenny Brown with 10 kills each.

Northern was in control of Set 1 from the outset, scoring six of the first seven points to take a quick 6-1 lead.

A 5-1 run expanded that lead to 19-14 and ONU scored the final two points to win 25-19.

The Polar Bears again led 6-1 in Set 2, but the Beavers stormed back with a 10-2 run to take an 11-8 lead.

Northern rattled off eight consecutive points, keyed by two kills from Gillespie, to regain the lead at 16-11.

ONU closed out the set on a 5-1 run, capped by a Hogrefe kiill.

In Set 3, ONU got its offense running in high gear, pounding out 17 kills in the 25-22 win.

Again Northern led quickly, going out to a 4-1 lead, but the teams settled in and traded points until it was tied at 11-all.

A kill and an ace by Borchers and a kill by Hogrefe sparked a 4-0 run that put the Polar Bears ahead 19-14.

ONU would score six of its final seven points on kills and Borchers capped the match with her team-high fourth kill of the set and Northern had competed the sweep.

The Polar Bears hit .265 for the match on 40 kills with 14 errors, while the Beavers hit .140 on 34 kills and 20 errors.

Ohio Northern will return to action at the Wittenberg Classic this weekend, facing No. 8-ranked Juniata (Pa.) on Friday and No. 3-ranked Calvin (Mich.) and No. 9-ranked Wittenberg on Saturday.