No. 11 Volleyball stays on top of OAC standings with wild 5-set victory at Heidelberg

By Tim Glon

TIFFIN — The No. 11-ranked Ohio Northern volleyball team stayed on top of the Ohio Athletic Conference standings with a wild 5-set victory at Heidelberg in a battle of league leaders on Tuesday night at Sieberling Gymnasium.

The Polar Bears (21-4 overall, 6-0 OAC) got 15 kills from senior McKenna Jordan (Toledo/Saint Ursula), 12 kills and five blocks from freshman Madison Kern (Loveland/Mount Notre Dame) and 11 kills from senior Sydney Bapst (Grove City) to remain the only undefeated team in league play.

The Student Princes (20-5, 4-2) were led by Taylor Valentine with 15 kills.

The match consisted of wild momentum swings as each team dominated at times before ONU prevailed 25-9, 22-25, 25-12, 10-25, 15-10.

Ohio Northern came out on fire, winning set one 25-9 as Heidelberg hit -.200 with four kills and 11 hitting errors.

The Student Princes rallied to win Set 2 25-22 with 18 kills and a .260 hitting percentage.

The Polar Bears dominated set three, hitting .382 with 16 kills and just three errors to win the set 25-12.

Heidelberg returned the favor in the fourth set, hitting .364 to .000 for ONU to win 25-10 and even the match at 2-2.

Northern snapped a 9-9 tie in the fifth set, outscoring HU 6-1 to win the final set 15-10 and the match 3-2.

Ohio Northern hit .219 for the match with 60 kills and 21 errors on 178 attacks. Heidelberg hit .120 with 51 kills and 29 errors on 183 attempts.

Junior Katie Wade (Battle Creek, Mich./Harper Creek) dished out 47 assists and senior McKenna Hostetler (Plain City/Alder) had 30 digs for ONU.

The Polar Bears will return to action on Saturday with a 1 pm match at Capital.