Volleyball falls to No. 3 Wittenberg, No. 21 Pacific Lutheran on Day 2 of Washington Invitational

By Tim Glon

| Washington (Mo.) Invitational Site |

SAINT LOUIS, Mo. — The Ohio Northern volleyball team dropped a pair of three-set matches to No. 3-ranked Wittenberg and No. 21-ranked Pacific Lutheran (Wash.) on Saturday to wrap up the Washington Invitational.

The Polar Bears (4-3 overall) were led by freshman Kristin Sessler with a career-high 11 kills and a team-best 19 digs in the 32-30, 25-17, 28-26 loss to Pacific Lutheran (3-3).

Trailing 23-19 in Set 1, ONU scored five consecutive points on kills by sophomore Kaitlann Hogrefe, Sessler and freshman Taylor Vuich; an ace by sophomore Ellie Gillespie amd another kill by Hogrefe.

Northern would serve for the set on five different occasions before the Lutes would score three straight points to win 32-30.

In Set 2, an 8-2 PLU run would give the Lutes an 18-12 lead en route to a 25-17 victory.

The third and final set was eeriely similar to the first set, with ONU scoring three straight points to take a 25-24 lead.

But again PLU would hold off a set point from ONU and win the set 28-26.

ONU would hit .178 for the match with 40 kills, while PLU would hit .194 with 54 kills.

Northern got five kills from Hogrefe in the 25-16, 25-13, 25-14 loss to Wittenberg (2-3).

WU scored the first seven points of the match and won the first set 25-16.

In Set 2, Northern led 9-8 before a 7-0 run gave the Tigers an 18-11 lead.

A big WU run was the difference in Set 3 as well, as an 8-0 run turned a tight 5-4 contest into a 13-4 lead.

The Polar Bears will return to action next weekend at the Wittenberg Classic.