Erin Wagner drills a career-high 24 kills as Volleyball holds off Wilmington in five sets
By Tim Glon
ADA — Sophomore Erin Wagner (Massillon/Perry) pounded a career-high 24 kills to lead the Ohio Northern volleyball team past Wilmington 24-26, 25-22, 19-25, 25-14, 15-9 on Wednesday night at the ONU Sports Center.
The Polar Bears (15-6 overall) stay on top of the Ohio Athletic Conference with a 5-1 record, while the Quakers fall to 8-16, 1-5.
Juniors Kaidie Carstensen (Raymond/Fairbanks) and Ava Ehlinger (New Carlise/Tecumseh) added 14 kills each for ONU.
WC was led by Sofia Thomas and Joy Bebe with 12 kills each.
Sophomore Grace Conrad (Somerset/Sheridan) dished out a career-high 56 assists and sophomore Rachel Jennings (Novi, Mich.) had 25 digs for Ohio Northern.
In the opening set, ONU rallied from an 18-12 deficit to take a 24-22 lead, only to see the visitors score the final four points to take the set 26-24.
Northern raced to an 8-2 lead in set two, but WC chipped away to pull within 21-18.
Kills by Wagner and Ehlinger made it 24-19, but the Quakers scored three straight to get within 24-22.
Another Wagner kill made it 25-22 and evened the match at one set each.
Wilmington used a 5-0 run to grab a 16-12 lead in set three and eventually pulled away for a 25-19 win.
It was all Polar Bears from there on out, as the hosts raced to a 15-4 lead in Set 4, hitting a match-best .412 in the frame.
A 7-2 Northern run gave the hosts an 11-5 lead in the fifth and deciding set and the Polar Bears were not threatened the rest of the way.
Ohio Northern outscored Wilmington 40-23 in the final two sets, hitting .378 in the process.
For the match, ONU hit .211 with 68 kills and 29 errors on 185 attacks, while the Quakers hit .156 with 52 kills and 25 errors on 173 attempts.
The Polar Bears return to action on Saturday with a 1 p.m. match at OAC foe Muskingum.
