Volleyball posts 1-1 record on Day 1 of Wittenberg Classic
By Tim Glon
SPRINGFIELD -- The Ohio Northern volleyball team posted a 1-1 record on the first day of the Wittenberg Classic at Smith Arena on Friday.
The Polar Bears (5-4) defeated Mount Saint Joseph 19-25, 25-12, 25-16, 25-19 Friday evening after falling to No. 16-ranked Juniata (Pa.) 25-18, 25-21, 26-24 Friday afternoon.
Against Mt. St. Joseph (1-7), freshmen Claire Heitkamp and Kristin Sessler had career-highs of 16 and 14 kills, respectively, for ONU.
The Lions came our roaring in the first set and used a 6-2 run to take a 16-12 lead. A 5-2 run would extend the lead to 24-17 and MSJ would win the opener 25-19.
But the Polar Bears would race out to huge leads in each of the final three sets to take control of the match.
In Set 2, Northern led 6-1 and 13-3 and were never threatened. Three kills each by Heitkamp and Sessler keyed the run and established momentum in ONU's favor.
Set 3 was very similar, as ONU led 5-0, 9-2 and 12-3. Back-to-back service aces by sophomore Ellie Gillespie would give Northern a 21-10 advantage, its largest of the set.
The Polar Bears led 6-1 in Set 4 before MSJ would rally with seven straight points to take an 8-6 lead, its first since the opening set.
The Lions would extend the run to 13-1 lead 14-7, before the Polar Bears would come storming back again.
A 6-0 run would pill ONU within 14-13.
trailing 17-15, the Polar Bears would score nine of the match's next 10 points to go up 24-18.
A kill by Heitkamp would end the match and get ONU back over .500 on the season.
Sessler added a team-high 16 digs to her 14 kills, Gillespie had nine kills and 12 digs and sophomore Heather Saunier dished out 38 assists for Ohio Northern.
MSJ was led by Hannah Vanarsdall with 13 kills.
Against Juniata (9-0), Gillespie and Heitkamp each had nine kills, Sessler had 21 digs and Saunier had 23 assists for ONU.
Amelia Kepler had a dominating performance for Juniata with 20 kills and a .457 hitting percentage.
Northern did not hold a lead in Set 1 as the Eagles slowly pulled away for the 25-18 win.
ONU led for the first part of Set 2 and a kill by Heitkamp made it an 8-7 score. But four straight points by JC would make it an 11-8 deficit.
An ace by senior Jeni Kmic and an attack error by the Eagles would bring ONU within 18-17, but a 4-1 run would extend JC's lead to 22-18 and the set would end 25-21.
In Set 3, ONU used a 5-0 run ro take a 21-18 lead. JC would tie the set at 21 with three straight points.
A kill by Heitkamp tied the match at 23 and a kill by freshman Kelli Weininger tied the set at 24, but the Eagles would score the final two points on kills by Courtney Lydick to win the match.
The Polar Bears will wrap up tournament play at the Wittenberg Classic on Saturday against No. 5-ranked Hope (Mich.) at 4 pm.