No. 18 Volleyball opens Bluffton Spiketacular with loss to No. 23 Thomas More (Ky.)

By Tim Glon

| Bluffton Spiketacular site |

BLUFFTON -- The No. 18-ranked Ohio Northern volleyball team opened play at the Bluffton Spiketacular on Friday night with a 25-22, 25-16, 29-27 loss to No. 23 Thomas More (Ky.) in a battle of nationally ranked programs at the Sommer Center.

The Polar Bears are now 4-2 on the season with both losses coming to the Saints (6-0).

Junior Sydney Fecko (Aurora/Trinity) led ONU with 12 kills on 37 attempts.

Freshman Madi Ellis (Delphos/Saint John's) added eight kills and hit .316 for the match.

TMC was led by Julia Popova with 14 kills.

Ohio Northern led 18-13 in the first game before Thomas More ended the game on a 12-4 run to take the opener.

In Game 2, TMC jumped to a 19-10 lead and held on for the 25-16 win.

Northern rallied in game three and served for the game ahead 25-24. But the Saints held off that charge and won the game 29-27 to seal the match.

ONU hit .116 for the match with 35 kills and 20 errors on 129 attacks, while TMC hit .341 with 52 kills and 10 errors on 123 attempts with 15 blocks.

The Polar Bears will return to the Spiketacular on Saturday with a Noon match against DePauw (Ind.) and a 2 pm match against host Bluffton.