Volleyball sweeps Wilmington to clinch home match in Quarterfinals of OAC Tournament

By Tim Glon

WILMINGTON — The Ohio Northern volleyball team clinched a home match in next week's Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament with a 25-11, 25-16, 25-17 victory at Wilmington Tuesday night at Raizk Arena.

The Polar Bears improve to 17-8 overall and are 6-2 in OAC play, while the Quakers fall to 1-18, 0-8.

With the win, ONU can finish either in second, third or fourth place in the league, which guarantees the Polar Bears a home match in the OAC Tournament quarterfinals next Tuesday at 7 pm.

Freshman Claire Heitkamp led a balanced Ohio Northern attack with seven kills, while sophomore Ellie Gillespie and freshman Taylor Vuich added six kills each.

Freshman Kristin Sessler had a team-high 21 digs and sophomore Heather Saunier had a team-best 12 assists.

ONU set the tone of the match early, hitting .321 in Set 1. With the score tied 7-7, Northern went on a 14-2 run to take control with a 21-9 lead.

In Set 2, the Polar Bears raced to an 8-1 lead, then used a 7-1 run to go ahead 15-4.

A 5-1 run midway through Set 3 gave ONU a 21-13 advantage and the Polar Bears went on to a 25-17 win.

All 16 players on the Ohio Northern roster saw action in the match.

The Polar Bears will wrap up their regular season Friday night with a 7 pm contest at Muskingum.