Volleyball sweeps Baldwin Wallace 25-13, 25-21, 25-20 to clinch top-4 OAC finish

ADA — The Ohio Northern volleyball team got 16 kills from junior Erin Wagner (Massillon/Perry) in a 25-13, 25-21, 25-20 victory over Baldwin Wallace in an Ohio Athletic Conference contest Wednesday evening at the ONU Sports Center.

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (15-7, 5-3 OAC), Baldwin Wallace (11-12, 4-4 OAC)
• Venue: ONU Sports Center - Ada, Ohio

Match Highlights

• Wagner led ONU with 16 kills and a .483 hitting percentage.
• Senior Ava Ehlinger (New Carlisle/Tecumseh) had 8 kills and a .412 hitting percentage, along with 6 blocks and 13 digs.
• The junior middles, Sonia Dahlin (Minnetonka, Minn.) and Lauren James (Farmington Hills, Mich./North Farmington) put up 7 kills each.
• James had a .778 hitting percetage for 7 kills on 9 swings with 6 blocks to add.
• Junior Rachel Jennings (Novi, Mich.) had a team-best of 19 digs.
• Junior Grace Conrad (Somerset/Sheridan) had a team-best of 19 assists and Caroline Hensley (Loveland/Bishop Fenwick) followed with 14.
• In the opening set, ONU broke a 3-all tie with a 12-6 run to lead 15-9. ONU finsihed the set with a kill from James ending 25-13.
• In the second set, the Polar Bears started off rocky trailing 8-2. ONU rallied with a 7-1 run to grab a 13-12 lead. Northern scored four of the set's final five points to win 25-21.
• In the last set, neither team led by more than 3 points, but ONU closed out the set with a 5-0 run with a kill from Dahlin set up by Conrad to break a 20-alll tie to win the match.
• The Polar Bears hit .333 with 45 kills, while the Yellow Jackets hit .200 with 40 kills.

Notables

• With the victory, ONU clinches a home match in the OAC Tournament on Nov. 7 with its top-4 finish. Northern could be either the 2, 3 or 4 seed, depending on Saturday's outcomes. As the 2 seed, the Polar Bears would receive a first round bye and host a semifinal match on Nov. 9. ONU would host a quarterfinal match Nov. 7 as either the 3 or 4 seed.
• Jennings has 1,497 career digs, and is now #10 ONU's all-time top 10 in that category.
• Conrad has 1,721 career assists. She is just 51 assists away from joining ONU's top-10 list in the category.
• Wagner ranks seventh all-time in ONU's top-10 list for hitting percentage, hitting .304 in 69 career matches.
• ONU leads the all-time series with Baldwin Wallace by a 71-16 margin. In Ada, ONU is 34-4 against BW.
• Sophie Windover is now 15-7 in her first season as head coach of the ONU volleyball team.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears return to action on Saturday when they travel to close out conference play at Marietta at 2 p.m.