Gillespie records career high 18 kills as volleyball tops John Carroll, 3-1

By: Andrew Korba

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS--Freshman Ellie Gillespie recorded a career high 18 kills as the Ohio Northern volleyball team defeated John Carroll 25-21, 25-9, 23-25, 25-15 Friday evening at the DeCarlo Athletic Center.

The Polar Bears now stand at 21-5 overall and 5-2 in the OAC, while the Blue Streaks fall to 10-17, 0-6.

Gillespie hit .359 for the match and also recorded 14 digs.

Senior Kelsie Zumberger led the Polar Bears with 38 assists, while junior Jeni Kmic paced ONU with 20 digs.

Sarah Orlandi led John Carroll with 13 kills and a hitting percentage of .241.

The Polar Bears found themselves down 7-4 early in Set 1 but reeled off a 5-0 run to take a 9-7 lead.

Freshman Heather Saunier hit two service aces and Gillespie recorded two kills during the run.

ONU would continue to expand their lead, building a 16-11 advantage.

But John Carroll used a 5-0 to tie things up at 16-16.

The set would be tied at 19-19 before Northern pulled away.

Two errors by John Carroll put ONU in front 21-19.

With a 21-20 lead, Northern would win four of the last five points to take the set thanks to two kills from Gillespie and one each from junior Kristen Davidson and freshman Kaitlann Hogrefe.

ONU would dominate set two winning it 25-9.

The Polar Bears recorded 13 kills and zero errors as they hit an amazing .772 for the set.

The Blue Streaks would battle back and take Set 3 by a 25-23 score.

With the score tied at 5-5 in Set 4, Northern would use a 6-2 run to open up an 11-7 lead.

The Blue Streaks would cut Northern's lead to 13-11, but ONU responded with a 6-1 run to open up a 19-12 lead.

ONU would finish things off thanks to a kill from Hogrefe to give them Set 4 by a 25-15 margin.

The Polar Bears registered 55 kills and hit a solid .303, while the Blue Streaks notched 44 kills and had a hitting percentage of .134.

Ohio Northern will be in action again on Tuesday when they return home to face Wilmington at 7 pm.