Volleyball opens OAC slate with five set loss to No. 13-ranked Marietta

ADA — Ohio Northern opened the Ohio Athletic Conference portion of its schedule on Friday night with a tight 20-25, 25-18, 25-23, 24-26, 15-11 loss to No. 13-ranked Marietta.

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (12-4 Overall, 0-1 OAC), #13 Marietta (12-0 Overall, 1-0 OAC).
• Venue: ONU Sports Center - Ada, Ohio.

Match Highlights

• Senior Erin Wagner (Massillon/Perry) had a team-high 17 kills and hit .286 with four blocks.
• Freshman Summer Hoying (Fort Loramie) added 14 kills and hit .409.
• Sophomore Olivia Baumann (Eaton) chipped in 10 kills.
• Freshman Haley Hammer (Cecil/Fairview) had a career-high 27 assists and senior Grace Conrad (Somerset/Sheridan) added 25 assists and 10 digs.
• Senior Rachel Jennings (Novi, Mich.) had a team-leading 27 digs.
• Marietta was led by Jillian Fellers with 18 kills. 
• The Polar Bears hit .144 for the match with 61 kills, while the Pioneers hit .247 with 63 kills in the match.

 Notables

• Ohio Northern had won its last 11 OAC openers.
• Ohio Northern leads the all-time series against Marietta by a 59-2 margin and is 30-1 in Ada.
• Jennings now has 1,829 digs in 95 career matches, and is No. 6 on ONU's all-time top 10 list in that category.
• Jennings entered the 2024 season ranked eighth nationally in digs among active Division III players.
• Conrad is eighth on ONU's all-time career assist list with 2,196 in 94 career matches. 
• Wagner now ranks fifth all-time in ONU's top-10 list for hitting percentage, hitting .331 in 90 career matches.
• She also has 1,043 career kills.
• Sophie Windover is now 28-14 in her two seasons as head coach of the ONU volleyball team, a winning percentage of .667.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will return to action Saturday afternoon in a tri-match at Trine (Ind.) with No. 24-ranked Calvin (Mich.)