Season Review: NCAA Tournament bid caps successful 2012 campaign for Volleyball program
By Tim Glon
ADA — The Ohio Northern volleyball team got back on track in 2012.
After missing the NCAA III Tournament in 2011, the Polar Bears responded with a solid 24-7 record and returned to the NCAA Tournament for the 28th time in the 32-year history of the event.
ONU also posted its 29th consecutive upper division finish in the Ohio Athletic Conference, winding up third with a 7-2 league record under 22nd-year head coach Kate Witte.
Senior Ellen Grenert was named Honorable Mention All-America, First Team All-Great Lakes Region and First Team All-OAC for ONU.
Grenert is now a two-time All-Conference honoree and became the 17th All-American in ONU history.
She led the Polar Bears in kills for the second consecutive year, collecting 293 on the season, and also hit a team-best .305 on the year.
Senior Kelsie Zumberger was named Second Team All-OAC as a setter after returning to the lineup after a two-year absence with an injury.
She dished out a team-best 1,016 assists and ended her career ranked sixth all-time at ONU with 1,800 assists in just two seasons on the court.
Freshman Ellie Gillespie was named Honorable Mention All-Conference and was the OAC Freshman of the Year.
Gillespie was second on the team with 278 kills and shared team-best honors with freshman Heather Saunier with 28 aces.
Seven Polar Bears were named Academic All-OAC.
Grenert, juniors Jayce Born, Kristen Davidson, Julia Fuerst and Jeni Kmic and sophomores Rachel Olach and Amanda Volosin achieved the honor.
Davidson was third on the team with 243 kills and freshman Kaitlann Hogrefe was fourth with 176 kills and led ONU with 24 block solos and 89 total blocks on the year.
Witte became ONU's all-time career wins leader with a thrilling 5-set victory at Marietta.
In her 22 seasons at the helm, Witte's teams have posted a 575-192 record, a winning percentage of .750.
She surpassed the mark of 569 wins set by Sheila Wallace from 1969-1990.
Northern started the season by three of its four tournaments and were 16-3 in non-conference matches.
The Polar Bears posted 4-0 records to win the ONU Invitational, the Hanover (Ind.) Invitational and the OAC/HCAC Challenge at Transylvania (Ky.)
Of ONU's seven losses, six came to nationally-ranked opponents and Northern avenged the lone loss at unranked Bluffton and swept the Beavers on a neutral floor at Hanover.
The Polar Bears posted a perfect 11-0 record at home and were 24-1 against unranked opponents in 2012.