Volleyball goes 2-0 against Millikin (Ill.), Carthage (Wis.) on final day of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Invitational

OSHKOSH, Wis. — The Ohio Northern volleyball team went 2-0 on the second and final day of the Wisconsin-Oshkosh Marty Petersen Invitational on Saturday at the Kolf Sports Center. The Polar Bears defeated Millikin (Ill.) 25-17, 25-27, 25-23, 25-18 in the opener and went on to get a 25-22, 19-25, 25-21, 19-25, 15-9 victory over Carthage (Wis.).

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The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (6-1), Millikin (Ill.) (3-2), Carthage (Wis.) (2-4)
• Venue: Kolf Sports Center — Oshkosh, Wis.

ONU v Millikin match

• Senior Ava Ehlinger (New Carlisle/Tecumseh) and junior Erin Wagner (Massillon/Perry) led ONU with 15 and 12 kills, respectively.
• Ehlinger hit .316 and added 12 digs.
• Junior Rachel Jennings (Novi, Mich.) tallied 37 digs and 14 assists.
• Junior Grace Conrad (Somerset/Sheridan) finished with 35 assists and 15 digs.
• Juniors Lauren James (Farmington Hills, Mich./North Farmington) and Sonia Dahlin (Minnetonka, Minn.) tallied four blocks each.
• ONU hit .229 with 55 kills, while the Big Blue hit .138 with 58 kills.
• Northern opened up a 21-11 lead in the first set en route to the 25-17 victory.
• A tightly contested second set featured 10 tie scores, the last of which was at 24-24, before Millikin closed it out with two straight points courtesy of kills.
• The third set featured eight tie scores in the early stages before ONU went on a 5-0 scoring run for a 14-9 lead. Northern led by as many as six, 16-10, but the Big Blue stormed back to take a 22-21 edge before the Polar Bears responded by scoring four of the final five points.
• The teams played to an 18-all tie in the fourth set, and ONU clinched the match with a 7-0 run highlighted by a pair of kills from James and an ace from sophomore Caroline Hensley (Loveland/Bishop Fenwick).

ONU v Carthage match

• Wagner and Dahlin led ONU in kills with 16 and 13, respectively.
• Dahlin hit .455, and Wagner hit .341.
• Ehlinger had eight kills and 12 digs.
• Jennings tallied 26 digs.
• Conrad finished with 25 assists to go with 18 assists from Hensley.
• James and Dahlin posted six blocks each.
• ONU hit .187 with 59 kills, and the Firebirds hit .169 with 57 kills.
• After the teams split the first four sets, they played to a 6-all tie in the fifth. A 6-0 ONU run put the Polar Bears up 12-6 en route to the 15-9 victory capped by a kill from Dahlin. Dahlin had three solo blocks and one block assist to key the 6-0 run.

Notables

• Jennings was named to the All-Tournament Team.
• Wagner led the team with 28 kills on the day.
• The Polar Bears finished 2-1 in the Wisconsin-Oshkosh Invitational after falling 3-1 to No. 8 Wisconsin-Oshkosh on Friday night.
• Sophie Windover improves to 6-1 in her first season as head coach of the ONU volleyball team.

Up Next

The Polar Bears return to action on Wednesday for their 2023 home opener against Bluffton at 7 p.m.