No. 12 Volleyball sweeps past Capital and Bluffton in tri-match

By Wes Mayberry

ADA — The No. 12 Ohio Northern volleyball team made easy work of its Saturday doubleheader, sweeping past Capital and Bluffton in a tri-match at the ONU Sports Center.

In what marked the Ohio Athletic Conference opener for both teams, Ohio Northern defeated Capital 25-16, 29-27, 25-14 and closed out the tri-match with a 25-14, 25-14, 25-14 win over Bluffton.

The Polar Bears improve to 12-1 on the season with a 1-0 mark in conference play.

In the middle match of the day, Bluffton defeated Capital 25-18, 14-25, 25-16, 25-18 to go 1-1 in the event, putting its overall record at 8-10. Capital is now 2-7 overall and 0-1 in OAC play.

Freshman Emma Strozewski (Lakeville, Minn./North) had 11 kills to go with 19 digs from senior Hannah Irmer (Indianapolis, Ind./Roncalli), 16 assists from freshman Grace Conrad (Somerset/Sheridan), three blocks from freshman Taylor Baxter (Bellevue) and three aces from freshman Rachel Jennings (Novi, Mich.) to lead ONU against Capital.

Capital got 10 kills from junior Sydney LaPointe and 15 digs from senior Erin O'Connell.

Baxter and Strozewski tallied 11 and 10 kills, respectively, against Bluffton while Jennings posted 20 digs to go with 16 from Irmer. Senior Kiki Carle (Cincinnati/Mother of Mercy) had a team-high 15 assists while Baxter led the way in blocks with three.

Bluffton got eight kills from freshman Chloei Barnett and nine digs and 14 assists from junior Maddie White.

In Game 1, Northern scored four of the first five points in the first set against Capital, but the visitors fought back to tie the score at 9-all. The Polar Bears scored the next seven points to create some separation en route to the 25-16 victory.

ONU led 23-19 in the second set but was unable to fend off a Capital rally that saw the visitors take a 24-23 edge. The score was later tied at 24, 25, 26 and 27 before the Polar Bears got the 29-27 victory.

Northern closed out the match hitting .414 in the third set in the 25-14 victory.

The Polar Bears finished with a .308 hitting percentage to Capital's .113.

Northern carried that momentum into Game 3 of the tri-match, never allowing Bluffton to score more than 14 points in a set in the eventual sweep.

The Polar Bears opened up a 5-1 lead in the first set and eventually grew the advantage to 22-10 en route to the 25-14 victory.

The next two sets were much the same and ended with identical scores.

ONU started the second set on a 6-1 run and closed the third set on a 21-10 run to turn a 4-all tie into a runaway.

The Polar Bears posted a .294 hitting percentage against the Beavers, who hit -.030.

Ohio Northern will look to extend its current three-game win streak when it next takes the court on Wednesday to host OAC foe Muskingum at the ONU Sports Center at 7 p.m.