Volleyball falls 3-1 at Muskingum

By Wes Mayberry

NEW CONCORD — The Ohio Northern volleyball team dropped a 3-1 game at Muskingum on Saturday afternoon, falling 21-25, 15-25, 25-14, 21-25 at the Steele Center.

The Polar Bears fall to 15-7 overall and 5-2 in the OAC, while the Fighting Muskies improve to 15-6, 4-3.

Sophomore Erin Wagner (Massillon/Perry) tallied 18 kills to lead ONU. Sophomore Sonia Dahlin (Minnetonka, Minn.) and junior Kaidie Carstensen (Raymond/Fairbanks) added nine and eight kills, respectively.

Sophomore Rachel Jennings (Novi, Mich.) finished with a team-high 25 digs for ONU, and sophomore Grace Conrad (Somerset/Sheridan) posted 45 assists.

Three Muskies finished with double-digit kill totals, as Khloe Taylor led the way with 14 to go with 13 from Emma Dunham and 11 from Lexie Huck.

The teams played to a 10-all tie in the first set before the Muskies were able to open up an 18-14 lead.

Northern fought back to within one, 18-17, but MU scored three straight points out of a timeout en route to the 25-21 victory.

The Muskies jumped out to a 20-11 lead in the second set and went up 2-0 in the match with the 25-15 win.

The Polar Bears had an emphatic response in the third set, however, scoring seven of the first 10 points and eventually leading 20-12.

Up 21-14, Northern scored the final four points of the set courtesy of three kills from Wagner and an MU attack error to send the match to a fourth set with a 25-14 victory.

The Polar Bears hit .341 in that third set after hitting .087 and .042 in the first two sets, respectively.

The tightly contested fourth set featured six tie scores, the latest of which came at 11-all.

The Muskies proceeded to use a 7-3 run to create some separation on the scoreboard before ONU answered to get back within one, 18-17.

MU scored the next three points, though, en route to the 25-21 win to clinch the match.

For the match, ONU hit .149 with 52 kills and 26 errors on 174 attacks, while the Muskies hit .246 with 57 kills and 15 errors on 171 attacks.

The Polar Bears return to action on Wednesday at OAC foe Baldwin Wallace at 7 p.m.