Carstensen pounds a career-high 18 kills, leads Volleyball to 4-set victory at Capital

By Tim Glon

ADA —Junior Kaidie Carstensen (Raymond/Fairbanks) had a career-high 18 kills to lead the Ohio Northern volleyball team to a 25-16, 25-21, 22-25, 25-12 victory at Capital on Saturday afternoon at the Capital Center.

The Polar Bears improve to 13-5 overall and stay on top of the Ohio Athletic Conference with a 3-0 record, while the Comets fall to 8-12, 0-3.

Junior Ava Ehlinger (New Carlisle/Tecumseh) added 11 kills and sophomore Sonia Dahlin (Minnetonka, Minn.) chipped in 10 kills and had four blocks for ONU.

CU was led by Alissa Holler and Caleigh Hamby with 13 kills each.

Northern raced out to a 13-3 lead in the opening set, led by four kills by Carstensen, and cruised to a 25-16 win.

In Set 2, the visitors used a 6-0 run to grab a 13-7 lead. Capital battled back to within 23-20, but ONU got kills from Ehlinger and Carstensen to close out the set.

Set three was a tight affair with neither team leading by more than three points at any point.

A kill by Dahlin tied the set at 22-all, but ONU committed a service error and back-to-back hitting errors as the hosts took the set 25-22.

The Polar Bears took control of the match in Set 4, leading 8-2 and 18-7 en route to the 25-12 clincher.

Freshman Caroline Hensley (Loveland/BishopFenwick) dished out 22 assists, sophomore Grace Conrad (Somerset/Sheridan) had 21 assists and sophomore Rachel Jennings (Novi, Mich.) had 24 digs for Ohio Northern.

ONU hit .274 for the match with 55 kills and 18 errors on 135 attacks, while the Comets hit .139 with 44 kills and 24 errors on 144 attempts.

The Polar Bears return to action on Wednesday with a 7 pm match against Heidelberg at the ONU Sports Center.