Woods and Baxter have 17 kills each, but No. 14 Volleyball drops exciting 5-set match at Heidelberg

By Tim Glon

TIFFIN — The No. 14 Ohio Northern volleyball team dropped a exciting 28-26, 20-25, 22-25, 25-17, 16-14 decision at Heidelberg on Wednesday night at Sieberling Gymnasium.

The Polar Bears fall to 17-2 overall and move to 6-1 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the Student Princes improve to 16-7, 4-2.

Senior Melina Woods (Ada) and freshman Taylor Baxter (Bellevue) each had 17 kills for ONU.

HU was led by Maddie Szawrankyj with a match-high 22 kills.

"This was disappointing, but give Heidelberg credit - they played well," ONU head coach Katie Kuhn said. "The atmosphere in the gym was terrific. With COVID, our young players have not been in loud situations like this at the collegiate level, so hopefully this is a good learning experience. We battled hard and I think Heidelberg earned this win - we certainly didn't play poorly and give it to them."

In the opening set, neither team led by more than three points at any time and ONU was serving for the set up 24-23. But HU rallied and served for the set at 25-24 and 26-25 before winning the set 28-26.

In Set 2, a 5-0 run gave Northern a 14-9 lead midway through the set. HU battled back to within 21-19, but a kill by Woods started a 4-1 run to win the set 25-20.

Heidelberg used an 8-1 run to take a 12-8 lead in Set 3, only to see ONU answer with a 10-3 run to regain an 18-15 advantage.

HU then tied it at 20-20, but Northern would score the next three points, keyed by kills from freshman Erin Wagner (Massillon/Perry) and sophomore Kassie Bowmar (Sunbury/Big Walnut), to go up 23-20.

A kill by Bowmar made it 24-21 and a kill by Woods iced the set at 25-22.

Heidelberg raced to a 6-2 lead early in the fourth set. A 7-1 run extended the host's lead to 15-6 and the lead eventually grew to 24-11. Northern gained some much-needed momentum heading into the final set with a 6-0 run before the Student Princes won the set 25-17.

Northern carried that momentum to take a 10-6 lead in the final set. But HU rallied for five consecutive points to go up 11-10.

HU served for the match at 14-13, but a kill by Baxter evened the match at 14-14. HU again served for the match at 15-14 and won on a kill by Kelsie Custenborder.

The Polar Bears hit .177 for the match with 64 kills and 28 errors on 203 attacks, while the Student Princes hit .173 with 63 kills and 28 errors on 202 attempts.

Northern hit only .032 in the final two sets with 17 kills and 15 errors, nine of which came via Heidelberg blocks.

Baxter added eight blocks to her 17 kills. Senior Kiki Carle (Cincinnati/Mother of Mercy) dished out 43 assists and freshman Rachel Jennings (Novi, Mich.) had 42 digs for ONU.

Ohio Northern returns to action Friday and Saturday when they travel to Grand Rapids, Mich., for four matches at the Calvin Invitational.