Volleyball opens OAC/HCAC Challenge with victories over Bluffton and Transylvania (Ky.)

By: Andrew Korba

TRANSYLVANIA (Ky.)--The Ohio Northern women's volleyball team opened up the OAC/HCAC Challenge with a striaght sets victory over Bluffton and a thrilling five set win over Transylvania (Ky.) on Friday.

The Polar Bears are now 14-3 overall.

Bluffton falls to 6-8 while Transy is now 5-10.

ONU got some revenge on the Beavers after losing to them a few weeks ago. Northern won by a score of 25-19, 25-18, 25-18.

Against Transy, the Polar Bears won 21-25, 25-23, 25-11, 19-25, 15-9.

Senior Ellen Grenert led the way for Northern with 14 kills.

Junior Kristen Davidson and freshman Ellie Gillespie added 12 kills apiece.

Senior Kelsie Zumberger had 37 assists while junior libero Jeni Kmic notched 32 digs.

After dropping Set 1, the Polar Bears found themselves down 22-20 in Set 2.

But some errors by the Pioneers and a kill from Davidson gave ONU the set by a 25-22 score.

In Set 3, ONU jumped out to a 7-3 lead and never looked back earning a 25-11 victory.

Set 4 was tight in the first half with things all knotted up at 14-14.

Transy used a 5-0 run to open up a 19-14 lead and never looked back winning 25-19.

The Polar Bears jumped out to a 9-3 lead in Set 5.

The Pioneers would battle back and cut the ONU lead to 12-9, but a kill from Davidson and two more from Grenert gave the Polar Bears the match.

Northern had 54 kills and hit .186 for the match while Transy registered 62 kills and has a hitting percentage of .156.

Against Bluffton, Gillespie had 11 kills and Zumberger dished out 27 assists for Ohio Northern.

Ohio Northern will be in action again on Saturday when they face off against Hanover (Ind.) at noon and Mount Saint Josepgh at 4 pm.