Senior Claire Heitkamp leads Volleyball in 25-15, 25-6, 26-16 sweep over Capital

By Caleb Scott

ADA — Senior Claire Heitkamp (Maria Stein/Marion Local) led the Ohio Northern volleyball Friday evening as it swept Capital 25-15, 25-6, 26-16 at the ONU Sports Center.

The Polar Bears improve to 18-3 overall and 3-0 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the Crusaders fall to 5-16, 1-2.

Heitkamp was tied for a game-high seven kills, while hitting a game-high .778.

Junior Haley Potters (Wheelersburg/South Webster) and freshman Chelsea Huppert (Bremen, Ind./Bremen) each added seven kills for Northern. 

Senior Ashley Borchers (Russia/Russia) posted a game-high 23 kills, while junior Megan Nieszala (Lambertville, Mich./St. Marys Catholic Central) added a game-high 10 digs.

After falling in an early 4-1 hole in the first set, the Polar Bears would fight back to 7-7 tie.

From there, Northern would use a 6-0 run to gain a 13-7 advantage. 

Northern would go on to win the first set 25-15.

After Capital tied the game at 3-3 in the second set, Northern would use an 18-0 run fueled by three kills from Huppert and two kills from Heitkamp to take a 21-3 lead.

Northern would go on to win the set 25-5.

Kills by Potters, Borchers, freshmen Sydney Bapst (Grove City/Grove City) and McKenna Hostetler (Plain City/Alder) helped Northern gain an early 5-1 advantage in the third set.

After Capital closed the gap to 10-8, the Polar Bears would utilize a 10-1 run to push the lead to 20-9.

The Polar Bears would go on to seal the 3-0 shutout and win the third set 25-16.

Capital was led by Kirsten Nickles, Becca Kapavik, and Courtney McCracken with four kills each.

Northern will return to action Tuesday evening as they host OAC-foe Heidelberg in a battle of undefeated OAC teams at 7 pm at the ONU Sports Center.