#17 Volleyball falls in four sets to #11 Colorado College in First Round of the NCAA III Tournament
By Tim Glon
WAVERLY, Iowa — No. 17-ranked Ohio Northern fell in four sets to No. 11 Colorado College 25-21, 14-25, 25-15, 25-23 in the First Round of the NCAA Division III Volleyball Tournament on Friday night at Levick Arena.
The Polar Bears end their season with an 22-6 overall record, while the Tigers (30-5) advance to the Second Round on Saturday at 6 pm (CST) to face the winner of tonight's battle between No. 4 Wartburg (Iowa) and Cornell (Iowa).
Sophomore Sydney Eggleton (Southfield, Mich./Farmington) had 13 kills and freshman Taylor Baxter (Bellevue) had 11 kills to lead ONU.
In the opening set, CC raced to a quick 7-1 lead, but ONU clawed its way back to within 15-14. The CC lead was 20-19 when the Tigers ended the set on a 5-2 run to win the opener 25-21.
Northern used a 6-1 run to grab a 16-8 lead lead in set two. The lead grew to 20-10 and a kill by Baxter gave ONU a 25-14 win to even the match at one set apiece. Northern hit a spectacular .500 with 16 kills on just 28 attempts in the set.
CC took an early lead in set three and slowly pulled away for a 25-15 win.
The Tigers opened Set 4 on an 8-2 run. Northern scored the next five points to get within 8-7 and eventually went on top 13-12.
Another 8-2 run gave the Tigers a 20-15 lead.
Trailing 21-16, ONU answered with a 7-1 run to go ahead 23-22.
But Colorado College scored the next three points to win the set 25-23 and the match 3-1.
Senior Melina Woods (Ada) and freshman Erin Wagner (Massillon/Perry) added nine kills each for Ohio Northern.
Georgia Mullins had a match-high 20 kills to lead Colorado College.
Senior Kiki Carle (Cincinnati/Mother of Mercy) dished out 21 assists and freshman Rachel Jennings (Novi, Mich.) had 22 digs for ONU.
The Polar Bears hit .230 in the match with 50 kills and 19 errors on 135 total attempts.
Colorado College hit .182 with 57 kills and 26 errors on 170 attempts.