Senior Claire Heitkamp leads Volleyball in 25-15, 25-6, 26-16 sweep over Capital
By Caleb Scott
ADA — Senior Claire Heitkamp (Maria Stein/Marion Local) led the Ohio Northern volleyball Friday evening as it swept Capital 25-15, 25-6, 26-16 at the ONU Sports Center.
The Polar Bears improve to 18-3 overall and 3-0 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the Crusaders fall to 5-16, 1-2.
Heitkamp was tied for a game-high seven kills, while hitting a game-high .778.
Junior Haley Potters (Wheelersburg/South Webster) and freshman Chelsea Huppert (Bremen, Ind./Bremen) each added seven kills for Northern.
Senior Ashley Borchers (Russia/Russia) posted a game-high 23 kills, while junior Megan Nieszala (Lambertville, Mich./St. Marys Catholic Central) added a game-high 10 digs.
After falling in an early 4-1 hole in the first set, the Polar Bears would fight back to 7-7 tie.
From there, Northern would use a 6-0 run to gain a 13-7 advantage.
Northern would go on to win the first set 25-15.
After Capital tied the game at 3-3 in the second set, Northern would use an 18-0 run fueled by three kills from Huppert and two kills from Heitkamp to take a 21-3 lead.
Northern would go on to win the set 25-5.
Kills by Potters, Borchers, freshmen Sydney Bapst (Grove City/Grove City) and McKenna Hostetler (Plain City/Alder) helped Northern gain an early 5-1 advantage in the third set.
After Capital closed the gap to 10-8, the Polar Bears would utilize a 10-1 run to push the lead to 20-9.
The Polar Bears would go on to seal the 3-0 shutout and win the third set 25-16.
Capital was led by Kirsten Nickles, Becca Kapavik, and Courtney McCracken with four kills each.
Northern will return to action Tuesday evening as they host OAC-foe Heidelberg in a battle of undefeated OAC teams at 7 pm at the ONU Sports Center.