Volleyball posts thrilling 4-set victory over Heidelberg in battle of league unbeatens

By Tim Glon

ADA — Junior Haley Potters (Wheelersburg/South Webster) drilled 19 kills to lead the Ohio Northern volleyball team to a thrilling 25-19, 17-25, 25-20, 25-23 victory over Heidelberg in a battle of Ohio Athletic Conference unbeatens on Tuesday night at the ONU Sports Center.

The Polar Bears (19-3 overall, 4-0 OAC) run their winning streak to 11 matches and grabs sole possession of first place in the league standings with the victory.

Northern hit a blistering .292 for the match, which included .364 and .368 hitting percentages in sets three and four, respectively.

Freshman McKenna Jordan (Toledo/St. Ursula) and Sydney Fecko (Aurora/Trinity) each had 13 kills, senior Claire Heitkamp (Maria Stein/Marion Local) had 10 kills and senior Ashley Borchers (Russia) dished out a career-high 58 assists for Ohio Northern.

Heidelberg (13-7, 4-1) was led by Sarah Parker and mariah Sullivan with 20 and 17 kills, respectively.

Potters hit .447 for the match with her 19 kills coming on only 38 swings. Heitkamp hit a team-best .474 with 10 kills on just 19 swings.

Potters drilled nine of her kills in the first set on just 11 attempts, a hitting percentage of an amazing .818.

Leading 18-15, ONU went on a 6-0 run to go up 24-15.

The Student Princes regained momentum by scoring four of the set's final five points and carried that into Set 2, where they jumped to an 8-2 lead.

Northern tied the set at 14-all, but HU finished on a 7-1 run to win the set going away.

ONU rebounded in set three, rallying from a 3-point deficit to tie the set at 14-all again.

This time, it was the Polar Bears finishing strong by scoring three consecutive points to go up 24-22. A kill by Potters closed out the set 25-23.

Ohio Northern raced to a commanding 14-6 lead in the fourth set, only to see the Student Princes rally to tie the set at 18-18.

A kill by Potters broke a 22-22 tie and ONU went ahead 24-22 on a HU attack error.

After a Parker kill, Fecko drilled a kill cross court to end the match.

Northern finished the match with 68 kills and just 16 errors for its .292 hitting percentage, while HU had 63 kills, 21 errors and hit .249.

The Polar Bears will return to action on Saturday afternoon with a 1 pm match at OAC foe John Carroll.