No. 14 Volleyball closes out perfect ONU Invitational run with 5-set win over Wittenberg
By Wes Mayberry
| 2021 ONU Invitational Site |
ADA — It wasn't easy getting to 3-0 in this year's 42nd Annual ONU Invitational, but the 14th-ranked Ohio Northern volleyball team got it done Saturday courtesy of a 28-26, 13-25, 19-25, 25-19, 15-8 victory over Wittenberg at the ONU Sports Center.
Combined with Friday's wins over Hanover (Ind.) and Mount Saint Joseph, Saturday's victory kept the Polar Bears perfect in the event to narrowly edge the 3-1 record posted by Mount Saint Joseph and come out on top in the tournament. Northern has now won its invitational 18 times, including five of the last eight.
Thanks to its successful run through the invitational, ONU is off to a 4-0 start for the second straight season.
The Polar Bears got a match-high 28 digs from senior Hannah Irmer (Indianapolis, Ind./Roncalli) along with 15 kills from senior Melina Woods (Ada) and 37 assists from senior Kiki Carle (Cincinnati/Mother of Mercy).
Woods and Carle were named to the All-Tournament Team.
Freshman Taylor Baxter (Bellevue) added 14 kills and eight blocks to go with 10 assists from freshman Grace Conrad (Somerset/Sheridan).
Wittenberg (1-3 overall) got 16 kills from Tyler Linkhart and 44 assists and six aces from Mack Ricketts, which were all match highs.
ONU hit .242 for the match while the Tigers finished at .163.
The tightly contested first set needed extra points to decide, and consecutive kills from sophomore Sydney Eggleton (Southfield, Mich./Farmington) and Woods finally provided the winning margin for ONU in the 28-26 decision.
That momentum didn't last, however, as the Tigers scored the first five points of the second set en route to taking a 12-3 lead and tying the match at one set apiece with the 25-13 victory.
Wittenberg put together another 5-0 run to take a 16-11 edge midway through the third set. ONU closed to within 17-14, but the Tigers responded with yet another 5-0 run to go up 22-14 en route to the 25-19 victory.
Down two sets to one and facing defeat, the Polar Bears answered in a big way, taking the fourth set 25-19 to force the fifth-set tiebreaker, which they won 15-8.
ONU scored the first five points of the fourth set en route to the six-point victory and proceeded to take an 8-2 edge to start the fifth set.
A service ace from Conrad and a kill from sophomore Madeline Gawthrop (New Paris, Ind./Fairfield) put the Polar Bears up 11-3 in the fifth, but Wittenberg continued to put up a fight, scoring the next four points to cut its deficit to four.
A pair of kills from Baxter bookended an ace from freshman Emma Strozewski (Lakeville, Minn./North) to put Northern up 14-7. Following a service error, the Polar Bears scored the match-winner on a Baxter kill.
ONU will look to continue its unbeaten start to the season when it travels to Ohio Wesleyan University on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. match.
