Volleyball sees OAC Tournament run end in the semifinals with 27-25, 25-22, 25-19 loss at Otterbein
November 9, 2023
WESTERVILLE — Fourth-seeded Ohio Northern volleyball team saw its Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament run come to an end in the semifinals with a 27-25, 25-22, 25-19 loss at top-seeded Otterbein on Thursday evening at the Rike Center.
The Basics
- Records: Ohio Northern (17-10), Otterbein (22-8).
- Venue: Rike Center - Westerville, Ohio.
Match Highlights
- Junior Erin Wagner (Massillon/Perry) had 9 kills and five blocks and hit a team-best .269 for the match.
- Senior Ava Ehlinger (New Carlisle/Tecumseh), Junior Sonia Dahlin (Minnetonka, Minn.) had 7 kills and freshman Olivia Baumann (Eaton) each had six kills.
- Junior Lauren James (Farmington Hills, Mich./North Farmington) had 5 blocks.
- Junior Rachel Jennings (Novi, Mich.) had a team-high 20 digs for the Polar Bears.
- Senior Grace Conrad (Somerset/Sheridan) had 20 assists.
- In the opening set, neither team led by more than three points the entire time. ONU served for the set at 24-23 and 25-24, but three consecutive OU points gave the hosts the opening set 27-25.
- Northern jumped to a quick 7-3 lead in Set 2, only to have OU battle back and tie it at 8-all. The match was nearly even until a late 4-1 OU run put the hosts up 22-18.
- In Set 3, Ohio Northern again started quickly, leading 8-4. OU rallied with a 14-3 run to grab a 18-11 advantage. Northern got back within 19-15, but the Cardinals pushed the lead back to 22-15. The lead grew to 24-16 but ONU kept battling, scoring three straight to get within 24-19.
- The Polar Bears hit .102 with 34 kills, while the Cardinals hit .220 with 47 kills.
Notables
- Ohio Northern is now 75-17 all-time in 39 appearances in the OAC Tournament. ONU has won 22 OAC Tournament titles and has reached the finals 35 times in school history.
- Jennings has 1,609 career digs, and is now #10 ONU's all-time top 10 in that category.
- Conrad has 1,838 career assists. She ranks ninth in ONU's top-10 list in the category.
- Wagner ranks seventh all-time in ONU's top-10 list for hitting percentage, hitting .307 in 74 career matches.
- Sophie Windover is now 17-10 in her first season as head coach of the ONU volleyball team.
Up Next
- The Polar Bears will wait to see it they receive a bid to the NCAA III Tournament. The brackets will be released Monday at 1 pm on NCAA.com.
