No. 8 Volleyball splits doubleheader at Wooster Kilt Classic

By Wes Mayberry

WOOSTER — The No. 8 Ohio Northern volleyball team split its two-game set at Saturday's Wooster Ginny Hunt Kilt Classic, sweeping host Wooster 25-21, 25-17, 25-15 after being swept by Denison 17-25, 19-25, 21-25 at Timken Gymnasium.

The Polar Bears (10-1 overall) capped the day with the resounding sweep of Wooster (10-3 overall), ending the Fighting Scots' 10-game win streak.

Freshman Taylor Baxter (Bellevue), who was named to the All-Tournament Team, joined senior Melina Woods (Ada) and sophomore Sydney Eggleton (Southfield, Mich./Farmington) in finishing with nine kills apiece to lead ONU. Baxter, who hit .350 in the game, added five blocks and four service aces.

Senior Hannah Irmer (Indianapolis, Ind./Roncalli) and freshman Grace Conrad (Somerset/Sheridan) tallied 12 and 11 digs, respectively. Conrad added 23 assists to go with 13 from senior Kiki Carle (Cincinnati/Mother of Mercy).

Katie Billetdeaux paced Wooster with 16 kills and a hitting percentage of .481 while Syd Case added 15 digs and 28 assists.

The Polar Bears opened up a 4-0 lead to start the match aided by kills from Woods, Eggleton and sophomore Kassie Bowmar (Sunbury/Big Walnut). Northern never relinquished the lead en route to the 25-21 win.

After a 1-1 tie score, ONU led the rest of the way in its 25-17 victory in the second set.

The third set featured tie scores of 4-all and 5-all in the early going, but the Polar Bears took a 6-5 edge on a kill from freshman Emma Strozewski (Lakeville, Minn./North) and never looked back, scoring 19 of the final 29 points to close out the sweep.

ONU finished the match hitting .218 to the Scots' .103.

Earlier in the day, Denison handed ONU its first loss of the season to improve to 6-4 overall.

The Polar Bears got a team-high 11 kills from Baxter to go with seven from Woods and five from Strozewski. Baxter also led the team in hitting percentage at .308.

Freshman Rachel Jennings (Novi, Mich.) and Irmer led Northern in digs with 13 apiece while Carle tallied 16 assists to go with three blocks from Bowmar.

Denison, which hit .284 as a team, got 21 kills from Daria Rodriguez and 11 from Lucy Anderson.

Three players finished with double-digit dig totals for the Big Red with Jenna Corrao leading the way in that department with 24. Kirby MacKinnon added 39 assists.

Denison opened the match hitting .368 to ONU's .229 in the first set and got out to a 12-8 lead. The Polar Bears remained within striking distance but were unable to climb out of a 20-16 hole in the latter stages, as the Big Red closed the set on a 5-1 run for the 25-17 victory.

Denison matched that 5-1 run to start the second set and later led 16-6 en route to the 25-19 victory after ONU made a late push with a 6-1 run to close the gap to 23-19.

The Polar Bears led 16-13 midway through a tightly contested third set before Denison put together a 5-0 run to take a lead it would not relinquish en route to closing out the sweep.

Next up for the Polar Bears is the start of a four-game homestand as they host Kenyon at the ONU Sports Center on Tuesday at 7 p.m.