No. 21 Volleyball posts 4-set OAC victory at Heidelberg
By Tim Glon
TIFFIN -- No. 21-ranked Ohio Northern held off a spirited Heidelberg squad 25-19, 25-20, 18-25, 25-21 in an Ohio Athletic Conference volleyball match Tuesday night at Sieberling Gymnasium.
The Polar Bears improve to 18-4 overall and 3-1 in the OAC, while the Student Princes fall to 10-11, 2-2.
Sophomores McKenna Jordan (Toledo/Saint Ursula), Sydney Bapst (Grove City) and Chelsea Huppert (Bremen, Ind.) senior Haley Potters (Wheelersburg/South Webster) led ONU with 17, 16, 12 and 11 kills, respectively.
Freshman Katie Wade (Battle Creek, Mich./Harper Creek) dished out 55 assists and sophomore Kristin Langston (Versailles) had a team-best 23 digs for Ohio Northern.
Heidelberg was led by Taylor Valentine with a match-high 21 kills and Morgan Strenk with 19 kills.
In Set 1, ONU used a 7-1 run to break a 7-all tie and take a 14-8 lead. HU would get no closer than four points the rest of the way in the set as the visitors took the opener 25-19.
Heidelberg took an 18-13 lead in the second set, only to see Ohio Northern end the set on a 12-2 run to win 25-20. Bapst had four of her set-high seven kills during the run.
Set 3 saw the Student Princes take an early 14-9 lead. Northern pulled within 14-12 and were within 17-15 when HU went on a 6-0 run to go up 23-15.
The fourth set was a tight one until Ohio Northern got back-to-back kills from Bapst to take a 16-13 lead. A kill by junior Josie Andres (Sunman, Ind./East Central) made 17-13 Polar Bears and an HU error made it 18-13.
Another Bapst kill gave ONU a 20-14 lead. Heidelberg would get within 22-19, but a kill by Jordan made it 23-19 and a kill by Andres ended the match at 25-21.
Ohio Northern hit .200 with 61 kills and 21 errors on 200 attempts in the match and Heidelberg his .204 with 62 kills and 22 errors on 201 attempts.
The Polar Bears will return to action Friday with non-conference matches against Rose-Hulman (Ind.) and Albion (Mich.) as part of a tri-match at the ONU Sports Center.
