Volleyball falls in 5-set thriller at Otterbein

WESTERVILLE — The Ohio Northern volleyball team fell in a 5-set thriller at Otterbein 23-25, 25-20, 20-25, 25-16, 15-7 on Wednesday night.

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (17-6 Overall, 3-3 OAC), Otterbein (15-8 Overall, 4-2 OAC).
• Venue: Rike Center - Westerville, Ohio.

Match Highlights

• Senior Erin Wagner (Massillon/Perry) had 15 kills and three blocks for ONU.
• Senior Lauren James (Farmington Hills, Mich./North Farmington) had 13 kills, three blocks and hit .360 for Ohio Northern.
• Senior Grace Conrad (Somerset/Sheridan) had 22 assists and freshman Haley Hammer (Cecil/Fairview) had 18 assists.
• Senior Rachel Jennings (Novi, Mich.) had a team-leading 29 digs.
• Otterbein was led by Kennedy Hoffman and Lexi Scott with 17 kills each.
• The Polar Bears hit .145 for the match with 51 kills, while the Cardinals hit .219 with 65 kills in the match.

 Notables

• Ohio Northern leads the all-time series against OU by a 56-12 margin. ONU is 23-7 at Otterbein in the series.
• James is 8th all-time in ONU history with 336 total blocks and is 9th with 81 block solos in 96 career matches.
• Jennings has 1,955 career digs in 102 career matches and remains No. 5 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 2,377 in 101 career matches.
• Wagner now ranks fourth all-time in ONU's top-10 list for hitting percentage, hitting .329 in 97 career matches.
• She also has 1,159 career kills and needs just 17 more to crack ONU's top-10 career list in the category.
• Sophie Windover is now 33-16 in her two seasons as head coach of the ONU volleyball team, a winning percentage of .674.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will return to action Saturday afternoon with a 1 pm match at Mount Union.