No. 14 Volleyball falls to No. 4 Hope (Mich.), No. 2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.) to close out Calvin (Mich.) Invitational

By Wes Mayberry

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The 14th-ranked Ohio Northern volleyball team closed out its two-day, four-game slate at the Calvin (Mich.) Midwest Invitational on Saturday with competitive matches against a pair of top-four teams at Hoogenboom Gym and Van Noord Arena.

The Polar Bears opened the day with a 25-21, 22-25, 21-25, 19-25 loss to No. 4 Hope (Mich.) before falling 20-25, 13-25, 18-25 to No. 2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.).

Senior Melina Woods (Ada) was named to the All-Tournament Team after tallying a combined 52 kills in the Polar Bears' four games.

ONU is now 18-5 overall and will return to Ohio Athletic Conference play next week with a 6-1 record in conference play.

Following play Saturday, Hope is 20-3 overall, while Claremont-Mudd-Scripps is 22-1.

The Polar Bears gave fourth-ranked Hope (Mich.) a battle to open play Saturday, winning the first set before the Flying Dutch battled back to win the final three sets by just 13 combined points.

Woods tallied a team-high 17 kills in the match while freshmen Taylor Baxter and Emma Strozewski tallied 10 kills each.

Freshman Rachel Jennings (Novi, Mich.) posted a game-high 29 digs to go with 10 each from Strozewski and senior Hannah Irmer (Indianapolis, Ind./Roncalli).

Senior Kiki Carle (Cincinnati/Mother of Mercy) added 35 assists.

McKenna Otto and Maggie Wehrmeyer paced Hope with 21 kills and 19 digs, respectively.

The Polar Bears opened strong, taking an 8-1 lead in the first set before Hope fought back to within one, 13-12.

ONU never lost the lead, however, and went on to cap the 25-21 victory with a kill from Woods.

A tightly contested second set featured 11 tie scores, the latest of which was 20-all, before the Flying Dutch went on to win 25-22.

Hope scored the first five points of the third set, but the Polar Bears were able to fight back to tie the score at 16-all. Trailing 24-20, ONU got a kill from Woods before Hope took the set on a kill from Otto.

The Polar Bears continued to battle in the fourth set and trailed 13-12 before Hope closed out the match on a 12-7 run for the 25-19 victory.

Hope hit .265 in the match compared to .223 for ONU.

Against No. 2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, sophomore Sydney Eggleton (Southfield, Mich./Farmington) tallied seven kills to go with 17 digs from Jennings and 21 assists from Carle to lead ONU.

The Athenas were led by Melanie Williams and Jenna Holmes, who tallied 11 and 10 kills, respectively.

Dede Carranza added 26 digs to go with Georgia McGovern's 21 assists for CMS.

The Polar Bears gave the second-ranked team in the country a stiff test, playing to an 11-all tie midway through the first set.

Later, a service ace from Jennings and a kill from Eggleton put ONU up 20-19, but CMS scored the next six points to win the set 25-20.

The Athenas shot out to a 20-10 lead in the second set en route to winning 25-13.

The teams played to a 10-10 tie in the third set before CMS went on a 12-7 run for a 22-17 edge.

A kill from freshman Erin Wagner (Massilon/Perry) cut ONU's deficit to four, but CMS scored the next three points to close out the three-set victory.

The Athenas hit .250 in the match, while ONU hit .069.

The Polar Bears close out their 2021 regular-season schedule when they return to the court next week to host a pair of OAC foes in No. 20 Otterbein on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and Mount Union on Saturday at 1 p.m.