Volleyball defeats Mount St. Joseph and Bluffton on Day 1 of the OAC/HCAC Challenge

Volleyball defeats Mount St. Joseph and Bluffton on Day 1 of the OAC/HCAC Challenge
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Team Stats

September 19, 2014

By Ashley Birchmeier

| Tournament Site |

BLUFFTON — The Ohio Northern volleyball team defeated Mt. St. Joseph and Bluffton on the first day of the OAC/HCAC Challenge Friday at Sommer Center.

ONU (9-5 overall) defeated MSJ (7-7 overall) 25-17, 25-19, 25-22 Friday afternoon and topped tournament host Bluffton (12-4 overall) 22-25, 25-10, 26-24, 25-11 Friday evening.

Against MSJ, sophomore Kristin Sessler had 12 kills and juniors Ellie Gillespie and Kaitlann Hogrefe both recorded nine kills o lead ONU.

Set one was a back and forth battle as each team exchanged points early. The Polar Bears were finally able to pull away and freeze the Lions at 17.

A kill by Hogrefe and an ace by freshman Brenna Dee gave ONU a comfortable lead and Gillespie secured the set with a kill at 25-17.

Set two started in similar fashion as the two teams exchanged points once again. With the score locked at 16-all, Mount St. Joseph committed an error and the Polar Bears took advantage. ONU used the momentum to outscore MSJ 9-3 the rest of the way to win the set 25-19.

ONU recorded 14 kills in the set, five of which came from Sessler. 

Mount St. Joseph battled in set three but ONU would prevail 25-22. Ohio Northern jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead but the Lions didn't give up.

MSJ was able to score five points in a row to take a 5-4 lead. ONU dominated the rest of the set as they recorded 12 kills, two blocks, and two aces en route to the victory. 

Northern rallied from a Set 1 loss to defeat Bluffton behind 15 kills from Gillespie, 13 kills from freshman Hannah Davis and 11 kills from sophomore Claire Heitkamp.

In Set 1 against the Beavers, the Polar Bears used a furious rally to erase a late 6-point deficit.

Trailing 19-13, Northern went on an 8-3 run to tie the match at 22-all. But after a timeout, BU scored the next three points to win the set 25-22.

The Polar Bears answered with a very strong showing in Set 2, dominating throughout in a 25-10 win.

ONU scored the first four points and had leads of 11-2, 17-4 and 24-9 in the set.

Northern hit .500 for the set with 19 kills and just one error.

In Set 3, the Beavers went ahead 11-5 only to see the Polar Bears go on a 9-1 run to take a 14-12 lead.

BU would score the next five points to go up 17-14 and the teams would trade points to make it 22-19.

ONU the scored seven of the set's final nine points to win the set 26-24.

Northern raced to a 10-2 lead in Set 4 keyed by two kills each from Gillespie, Davis and Heitkamp.

ONU extended that lead to 19-8 and cruised to the victory.

Northern hit .311 for the match on 61 kills and only 15 errors, while the Beavers hit .185 with 48 kills and 21 errors.

Bluffton was led by MacKenzie McFarlin with 14 kills and Jenny Brown with 11 kills.

The Polar Bears will complete play in the OAC/HCAC Challenge on Saturday with a 9:30 an match against Transylvania (Ky.) and a 1:30 pm match against Hanover (Ind.)