Volleyball: Ohio Northern (10-5 Overall, 0-0 OAC) at Mount Union (13-3 Overall, 0-0 OAC)

Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022, 1 p.m. – Timken Gymnasium, Alliance, Ohio

Saturday's Preview: Ohio Northern opens Ohio Athletic Conference play on Saturday at Mount Union … The Polar Bears went 8-1 in conference play in 2021 en route to winning both the OAC regular season and tournament championships … Northern is coming off Wednesday's 3-1 loss at No. 12 Wittenberg, falling 21-25, 10-25, 25-21, 18-25 … Sophomore Erin Wagner led ONU with 12 kills and hit .545 for the match … Sophomore Rachel Jennings added 23 digs, and freshman Caroline Hensley had 26 assists … Entering Saturday's game, Wagner ranks second in the OAC with 184 kills and a .349 hitting percentage … Sophomore Sonia Dahlin and junior Ava Ehlinger rank second and third on the team with 133 and 122 kills, respectively … Jennings ranks sixth in the OAC with 259 digs … Sophomore Grace Conrad is tied for fifth in the OAC with 418 assists … Sophomore Lauren James is tied for ninth in the OAC with 39 blocks … Fifth-year senior Hannah Irmer has 1,471 career digs, which ranks ninth on the program's all-time career digs list … Mount Union is coming off last Saturday's 3-0 win over Kenyon at Denison … UMU won 25-12, 25-9, 25-19 for its ninth straight victory … The Purple Raiders hit .363 in the match and got a game-high 11 kills from graduate student Maria Ellesin … Ellesin (150) and sophomores Heaven Bartell (143) and Darby Leininger (132) all have 100-plus kills for UMU this season … Ellesin ranks ninth in the OAC in kills … Sophomore Catherine Klopp leads the OAC with 55 blocks … Senior Alyssa Kasaris ranks third in the OAC with 316 digs … Bartell is tied for sixth in the OAC with 26 aces … Senior Mollie Thomas ranks seventh in the OAC with 350 assists.

ONU Statistical Leaders:

All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series with Mount Union by a 53-8 margin, including 17-4 in Alliance … ONU has won nine straight meetings … The teams met twice last season, as the Polar Bears won 3-0 at home during the regular season and 3-1 at home in the OAC Tournament semifinals.

Head Coach Katie Kuhn: Kuhn is in her third season as the head women's volleyball coach at Ohio Northern … She owns a 45-14 career record for a winning percentage of .763 and is 21-4 (.840 winning percentage) in Ohio Athletic Conference games … She was named OAC Coach of the Year and AVCA Region 7 Coach of the Year in 2021 after leading the Polar Bears to OAC Regular Season and Tournament championships.